Joined: Thu May 29, 2008 8:32 am Posts: 1730 Location: Suwanee, GA US
I will not comment on the ethics of this, but with the recent ruling that lab diamonds are diamonds, I can see where this is not so much of a challenge.
Wuzhou Fancy Jewelry Co., Ltd., aka Fancygemstone.com (don't bother, there is no default page), has released moissanite that will test as diamond.
I got an email about it with little detail, so I found a link.
I will continue to use them from rough as they are good at it, quick, and helpful.
PS - they exported 200 kilos of "zultanite/sultanite/diaspore" to Turkey this last year. It is a dopped glass and fully disclosed, at least by them. I bought the minimum, 2 kilos, to play with.
I question whether it passes all of the conductivity testers. There have been versions of Moissanite that passes the simple testers available for years. This may be just puffed up advertising for that type. It seem that this company has very liberal policies in this regard by looking at some of their other offerings.
The good news is that they will not pass my other common tests such as RAMAN, and Microscopic inspections for sure.
In any case it is good to learn about such companies and products, keeps us informed. Thanks for posting.
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2005 12:22 pm Posts: 21602 Location: San Francisco
Diamonds are extremely efficient thermal conductors, but electrical insulators. Moissanite conducts both heat and electricity. If one has an efficient tester, able to positively detect thermal conductivity efficiently and reliably, the separation should be straight forward,
It has been my personal experience that most diamond/moiissanite testers are unreliable.
Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2010 12:04 am Posts: 257 Location: Idaho
I remember a story going around when moissanite first hit the market, to the angst of gemologists and jewelers everywhere.
As it was told, at one of the bigger trade shows a major publication contacted a reputable gemologist and asked that he write an article regarding the difficulties and procedures for distinguishing moissanite from diamond. Expecting much research and study on the author's part, they were very surprised when a sheet of paper was slipped under their hotel door early the next morning. The article was short and to the point.
"Use a loupe!"
Moissanite's double refraction still hasn't changed - if so, it would no longer be moissanite! But their orientation of the cut stone has improved, so you do have to examine more thoroughly.
But then, you all already know that.
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It has been my personal experience that most diamond/moiissanite testers are unreliable.
This is my usual experience with the testers as well. I would say that the most effective option as mentioned here and in most training is look with a loupe and check for double refraction. Otherwise Visual Optics can be used if you have an effective light source but in general the double refraction is a dead giveaway. Even if they have found a way to coat the moissanite so that they don't conduct the electricity and test as diamonds then you'll still be able to see those "train tracks".
Moissanite's double refraction still hasn't changed - if so, it would no longer be moissanite!
Moissanite is tricky because it has several 'polytypes' (like polymorphs but they're all closely related and there are too many) including one cubic one (3c moissanite). I believe there are very good reasons it isn't used but I don't immediately recall them.
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