If any of you think that “this poor imitation of a diamond” is
going to fade away, may I remind you of CZ, Chatham emeralds,
rubies, sapphires, and opals to name a few. Already there are
people buying diamond rings ( not small ones, either) from pawn
shops and jewelry stores, taking the rings somewere, replacing
the diamonds with the synthetic and returning the ring and
getting their money back. What a way to make a living!!! Good
for the bad guys - bad for the unsuspecting/uneducated jeweler.
I haven’t been nailed with moissanite,yet, but I know those who
have. This scam was running in my area last week. Don’t be
surprised to hear of it in your area soon. The police were on
their trail, but they are smooth. Work the scam here until it
starts to heat up, move to another town full of unsuspecting
souls and presto - another few grand and they move on leaving you
to eat your “diamond”. My advice is to invest in one of the new
testers if you intend to deal with diamonds. Years of working
with diamonds will familiarize you with the stone and alert you
to something “wrong”, but even seasoned diamond dealers have been
scammed with CZ’s. Now the moissanite (synthetic diamond) hits
the market so we have something else to worry about. Moissanite
is only one of a jeweler’s problems. We also have to be able to
recognize a clarity enhanced diamond so we won’t ruin it during a
repair. Try and explain to a customer that the diamond she/he
brought in for repair is a clarity enhanced stone when where
he/she bought it didn’t disclose the fact, and now you have a
crummy stone in your hands that the customer blames you for
ruining. Go ahead and ignore this new stone (which is a
synthetic diamond, not a simulated diamond) and it will bite you
in the a-- some day. Remember, the jewelry field is full of mines
to the unwary. Of course, that’s only my opinion, and I could be
wrong. Have a nice day.
Hello Aufin:
Synthetic Moissanite is not synthetic diamond, it is a diamond
simulant. I agree that we must watch out for simulants being
passed off as diamond and a well educated take-in staff is the
key.
Michael Mathews Victoria,Texas USA
Synthetic moissanite is just that; a type of silicon carbide
that has been found in miniscule amounts in nature. (Henri
Moissan discovered small crystals in a meteor, hence the name.)
Synthetic moissanite is produced in a lab. One thing it is NOT,
is a synthetic diamond. My advice to anyone who thinks moissanite
is a synthetic diamond is that they do their homework first. You
are right about one thing: there is lots to worry about regarding
synthetics, imitations and treatments. The only solutions are:
education. And when that’s over, then get educated again.
R. Weldon
Moissanite is NOT a synthetic diamond…it is not as hard, it is
not singly refractive, and it does not share anything close to
the same chemical, physical, or optical properties of
diamond…and that is the acid test criteria of any gemstone
considered a “synthetic”.
Other than that your post is a fair caution…with this
addendum: any jeweler “fooled” by CZ in this day and time should
seek immediate employment elsewhere; any jeweler that hasn’t
studied simple detection of filled diamonds by now needs to
subscribe to several trade publications and any jeweler that
refuses to educate themselves at these rudimentary levels in
today’s market should never buy or repair anyone else’s jewelry.
Greg Fisher
Gemsources
(Still learning but not the same things over and over every day)
I don’t think this stuff is going to go away, but you made a
statement that rings very true. You said the
"unsuspecting/uneducated jeweler" will get burned. I hope so.
This industry is full of uneducated so called jewelers and I for
one am tired of having them around.
I have spent 25 years as a bench jeweler and I am sick and tired
of these half assed people. We have trade publications coming out
of our ears and courses that can be taken by GIA. Do they do it?
No, because they are too lazy or they think they don’t need it.
Take in procedures at jewelry stores are about as lacks as can
be. Most stores have some salesperson who sold shoes (no offense
to shoe salespeople) two weeks ago selling jewelry or taking in
repairs. If this is you than you should get burned. This is an
industry that requires an enormous amount of education but is all
too easy to get into.
I would agree with you that a tester would probably help, but we
rely too much on little black boxes. Have you ever used a tester
on a diamond and had a false reading because there was grease or
some other substance on the stone? It happens. Thats why it’s so
important to have the knowledge to use some gemological
procedures to find out exactly what you have.
C3 is very secretive and is tight about who it will ship its
synthetic moissanite to. I don’t doubt that someone has been
scammed but I’m starting to think that alot of these stories are
becoming “Urban Legends”.
This is not a synthetic diamond. This is sythetic moissanite.
Have a talk with Tom Chatham and he will tell you the
difference. He is making diamonds.
Hope I haven’t come across to harsh but I’ve seen more TV
exposes on our industry than I care to.
Chuck@ C.H.& Co.
aka Vladimir
[snip]
synthetic diamond, not a simulated diamond) and it will bite you in the a-- some day. Remember, the jewelry field is full of mines to the unwary. Of course, that's only my opinion, and I could be wrong. Have a nice day.
To which I am replying:
Bravo, Aufin! Well said. Except for the part that I have
excerpted.
Moissanite is NOT “synthetic diamond”. It IS a “diamond
simulant”, just like CZ is a diamond simulant.
A synthetic diamond has all the chemical, physical and optical
properties of natural diamond. Thanks to flaws introduced in
the creation process, we can see the differences, but they are
made of the same thing, good old Carbon.
Moissanite, on the other hand, is a form of silicon carbide. Its
characteristics are close to diamond, but not identical, making
identification (for the careful jeweler) EASY. (Praise be…)
Will synthetic moissanite make an impact on the market? It’s
still early to say perhaps, but my mother (who is not a jeweler)
when she heard about it said, “Well, if it looks almost exactly
like diamond, so that most other people can’t tell, and it has
the same durability factors, why shouldn’t I buy that instead,
save my money and spend the rest making the ring bigger or
something?”
Many of us sneer at CZ, but people buy it to “Get the look of
diamond for less”. We get scammed when we’re careless. Take an
extra second to really look…it’s the only guarantee you
really have.
Wishing you all sharp eyes and steady hands.
..Go ahead and ignore this new stone (which is a > synthetic diamond, not a simulated diamond) and it will bite you...
UM. Moissanite is a simulated diamond. It is not a synthetic
diamond. Those ARE made, but they are diamond, not moissonite…
Peter Rowe