3 ms·
Silicon Carbide is comparatively cheap (factor ten less than diamond), the refractive index is greater, and it's almost as hard. I've bought a few "moissanite"
by ISL 13y ago
Silicon Carbide is comparatively cheap (factor ten less than diamond), the refractive index is greater, and it's almost as hard. I've bought a few "moissanite" stones as gifts; they're pretty.
Edit: Also, if you've not played with a large cubic zirconia, and you have $3.60 to spare,
http://www.esslinger.com/10mmroundpremiumcz.aspx http://www.esslinger.com/10mmroundpremiumcz.aspx
- thaumasiotes 13y agoI order synthetic rubies and sapphires from pehnec.com (minimum order: $50; typical lot price: $35-45). They also sell CZ in all different colors, but again, you have to buy in batches. Your link is weird... their synthetic gems seem to be mostly simulated. I could understand that for rarer stones, but why bother to simulate amethyst? And prices for created stones are bizarrely out of whack: pehnec 10x12mm oval CZ: $46 for a batch of 25 esslinger 10x12mm oval CZ: $4.35 per pehnec 7x10mm pear created ruby: $40 for a batch of 50 gems esslinger 7x10mm pear created ruby: $108 for one gem (?!?!?) On a more "enthusiast" note, I always bought synthetic rubies and sapphires for your basic crummy reasons of "genuineness", but I recently bought a batch of clear CZ as a birthday gift for a teenage girl. She loved it -- and when she sent me pictures, I had to agree, they look gorgeous.
- ISL 13y agoOoo. Thanks for the link.
- thaumasiotes 13y agoHey, not at all. It's a true pleasure to meet someone who understands the appeal of loose gemstones (far and away the most common reaction I get when showing them off is "but what good are those?"... the second most common is "they look fake").