CZ Qualities

Jewelry Discussion
1

I need 5mm ‘diamonds’ for a largish sculpture-type project (not
jewelry), so I thought I’d use cubic zirconia, with which I have
never worked. It needs to sparkle and look precious. Are there
different qualities graded by a known standard like with precious
stones, and what would be the price range for 5mm stone (I only need
7)? Is there a significant difference between the different
qualities? Any other white stone better for simulating diamond in
this size (white saphires?)? Thanks, Janet

2 
    Are there different qualities graded by a known standard like
with precious stones, and what would be the price range for 5mm
stone (I only need 7)? Is there a significant difference between
the different qualities? Any other white stone better for
simulating diamond in this size (white saphires?)? Thanks, Janet

Hi Janet. For your purposes, the answer to your question about
quality is no. CZ is generally flawless, so there isn’t much of a
clarity difference. And, since they are manufactured in a
laboratory, color can also be fully controlled. CZs are manufactured
in many colors and can even provide the gemologist with a fairly
accurate color grading set, although natural stones are much
preferred in that role. If it needs to “sparkle and look precious”,
you won’t want to use colorless corundum (white sapphires), they are
far less dispersive than CZ (corundum’s dispersion is .018, while
CZs is .060. In this day and age, CZ is the most popular diamond
simulant because it approximates diamonds’ characteristics more
closely than any other material in its price range. Good luck, hope
this helps

James