Moissanite vs. Diamond

Moissanite vs. Diamond

Moissanite is a stone that is almost as durable as a diamond, and is even more brilliant than it. Moreover, moissanite is always conflict-free. Ethical and consistent as a result of lab growing, these scintillating stones are affordable too. That’s why, at Eternate, we love using moissanite as an alternative. Moissanite can give you what diamonds give and offer even more.

ORIGIN

Henri Moissan discovered this scarce, naturally occurring mineral in a crater formed by a meteorite in 1893. So officially, we can say that moissanite came from stars, though that's the same reason why this natural gem's only available versions are lab-created.

PRICING

Moissanites are especially preferred in engagement rings due to their advantageous pricing compared to diamonds, while preserving a comparable quality in several aspects. Natural diamond's price range is based on cut, clarity, color, and carat weight, whereas moissanite's price varies only based on color and size. Lowering the quality and carat of the natural diamond while choosing your engagement ring still costs you more than a bigger moissanite with better quality.

SIZE & SHAPE

Let's first clarify “size”. Although normally moissanite is not measured in carats, here we will use it for ease of comparison. Normally a 6.5 mm diamond weighs 1.0 carat (0.2 grams), while a 6.5 mm moissanite weighs 0.88 carats. That means a mere 0.88 carat moissanite will look like a whole 1.0-carat diamond.

As far as shapes go, moissanite comes in all shapes a diamond does, and we refer to them with the same names.

COLOR & CLARITY

Because it is lab-created, moissanite comes in two options; “colorless” (D, E, F in diamonds) and “near colorless” (G, H, I in diamonds). At Eternate, we only use moissanite stones that are colorless.

Likewise, these laboratory gems mostly come in the same clarity, a very desirable “VSI” (very slightly included) according to the standard GIA diamond clarity scale. As Eternate, we only feature these high-quality moissanite in our designs, crafting the most alluring engagement rings.

HARDNESS & DURABILITY

Have you ever heard of 'Mohs Scale of Hardness'? It is used for identifying how hard a mineral can scratch the others. The hardest mineral naturally occurring on Earth is diamond, with a score of 10 on a 1 to 10 scale. Therefore, diamonds are wonderfully durable, perfect for everyday wear. Nevertheless, moissanite doesn't fall much behind on the Mohs Scale of Hardness, scoring somewhere between 9.25-9.50. An excellent option that withstands daily wear, without abrasion.

On brilliance and fire, moissanite comes first among all the gemstones, including diamond. As a fact, this gemstone is extremely refractive, which means that it has the maximum white light emission, making it the most sparkly. Different from diamond, moissanite also has rainbow colored light; and the bigger the stone the more extensive the effect is. So, in short, if you were to put a moissanite and diamond side by side, you would see moissanite having more brilliance and fire than diamond.

ETHICAL SOURCING

One other advantage of moissanite being lab-created is the fact that it is totally and absolutely ethical and sustainable. Moissanite doesn't get involved in any type of social or environmental conflict, presenting an option you can choose with clear conscience.

If you want to learn more about diamond alternatives, have a look at our lab-grown vs. natural diamonds guide. We want to add that, at Eternate, we only use conflict free and ethically sourced diamonds.