Silicon Carbide

I was tired last night when I took this shot and still tired the night after as I try to write about it.

In brief: silicon carbide is found naturally in meteorites, surpassed only for hardness by diamond. This hardness made it a perfect grinding material and scientists found a way of producing it for the abrasives industry.

In 1988 Charles and Colvard saw the potential of creating in the lab a durable gemstone more brilliant than diamond. This gemstome is called Moissanite and still supplied only by C&C.

When Moissanite came to the attention of the jewellery trade there was a bit of a panic because by conventional methods it was so difficult to distinguish from diamond. As Jewellers we were quick take the challenge of retailing this new product and have exclusivity in our town.

This is my 18ct white gold, Moissanite ring, cheaper than a diamond solitaire of the same size but still far more expensive than most of the diamond rings we used to sell! I have placed it on a lump of silicon carbide that I found in a box of minerals at home this week while I have been sorting things.