LittlePhi
Rough_Rock
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2019
- Messages
- 16
Hi everyone!
I've been drooling over moissanites for a while and while my first interest was fueled by its affordability in comparison to quality, I quickly got sucked into the rabbit hole and now I'm lusting after precision-cut beauties such as those by August Vintage. As those stones still got quite the pricetag on them, they're now more of a long term wish. And before I make such a big commitment I'd like to get some hands-on experience, so I ordered a quite cheap grey moissanite from Ebay. I know more people wonder about the quality of moissanites that seem too cheap to be true, so I'll share my thoughts!
I got this affordable moissanite from the Ebay seller Diamondinmind. It's shipped from Mumbai so I'm assuming it's Indian made. The color is described as "Intense Grey". I'm guessing this was an important factor for keeping the price so low. It was less than €8 for 1.1ct.
It being a round cut with a diameter of 6.95mm at 1.1ct I'm guessing it was cut with spread rather than light-performance in mind. Seeing as an 'ideal cut' round generally comes down to 6.5mm for 1ct, this one probably doesn't have very good proportions. It's sparkles wonderfully in spotlighting, but it's performance can vary quite a bit in diffuse lighting. Sometimes it still manages to catch the light for some nice brightness, other times it falls a bit flat.
The color face up is a rough steel gray that eyes a bit silvery in murky lights. When viewed from the side against a white backdrop it's a murky gloomy gray that isn't too dark and leans more towards hints of blue rather than any green or brown. Not sure if it's still be on the alphabet whiteness-scale or if it's considered colored.
I was quite enjoying myself holding a shoot for this stone, and while I was working my brother walked by and lend me his macro lens that clips right onto your phone camera, so I got some really nice close ups! You can see some imperfections on the inside towards the edge of the stone, and some roughness in the cutting.
It's more difficult than it might seem to get the stone steady and in focus on video, but I think it ended up quite well. The spotlighting vid captured less of the sparkles then you'd see with the naked eye and makes the stone a bit darker than it looks in person. On the other hand the daylight vid made the stone seem a bit brighter than it actually was.
I liked having it a lot and I've ordered a second one, together with a set of silver martini settings to make them into stud earrings. I'll try to show them if it works out!
I've showed this one around in our home and even such an entry level stone impressed a lot. With my mom's birthday coming up, my dad decided to buy her a silver ring from Transgem with a 2ct GH hearts & arrows moissy - and to complement his present my brother and I will gift her a matching set of earrings (from Doveggs, but I believe they're actually the same as Transgems). I'll report back at the end of May when she has gotten them. If it turns out the videos below are useful to people I can do the same for my mom's upcoming set!
EDIT: it seems the videos definitely show a higher quality on the YouTube app than embedded in the web page, so if you're in need of more details you know where to go!
Spotlighting
Diffuse daylighting
Indoors indirect light
Macro frontview
Macro sideview
I've been drooling over moissanites for a while and while my first interest was fueled by its affordability in comparison to quality, I quickly got sucked into the rabbit hole and now I'm lusting after precision-cut beauties such as those by August Vintage. As those stones still got quite the pricetag on them, they're now more of a long term wish. And before I make such a big commitment I'd like to get some hands-on experience, so I ordered a quite cheap grey moissanite from Ebay. I know more people wonder about the quality of moissanites that seem too cheap to be true, so I'll share my thoughts!
I got this affordable moissanite from the Ebay seller Diamondinmind. It's shipped from Mumbai so I'm assuming it's Indian made. The color is described as "Intense Grey". I'm guessing this was an important factor for keeping the price so low. It was less than €8 for 1.1ct.
It being a round cut with a diameter of 6.95mm at 1.1ct I'm guessing it was cut with spread rather than light-performance in mind. Seeing as an 'ideal cut' round generally comes down to 6.5mm for 1ct, this one probably doesn't have very good proportions. It's sparkles wonderfully in spotlighting, but it's performance can vary quite a bit in diffuse lighting. Sometimes it still manages to catch the light for some nice brightness, other times it falls a bit flat.
The color face up is a rough steel gray that eyes a bit silvery in murky lights. When viewed from the side against a white backdrop it's a murky gloomy gray that isn't too dark and leans more towards hints of blue rather than any green or brown. Not sure if it's still be on the alphabet whiteness-scale or if it's considered colored.
I was quite enjoying myself holding a shoot for this stone, and while I was working my brother walked by and lend me his macro lens that clips right onto your phone camera, so I got some really nice close ups! You can see some imperfections on the inside towards the edge of the stone, and some roughness in the cutting.
It's more difficult than it might seem to get the stone steady and in focus on video, but I think it ended up quite well. The spotlighting vid captured less of the sparkles then you'd see with the naked eye and makes the stone a bit darker than it looks in person. On the other hand the daylight vid made the stone seem a bit brighter than it actually was.
I liked having it a lot and I've ordered a second one, together with a set of silver martini settings to make them into stud earrings. I'll try to show them if it works out!
I've showed this one around in our home and even such an entry level stone impressed a lot. With my mom's birthday coming up, my dad decided to buy her a silver ring from Transgem with a 2ct GH hearts & arrows moissy - and to complement his present my brother and I will gift her a matching set of earrings (from Doveggs, but I believe they're actually the same as Transgems). I'll report back at the end of May when she has gotten them. If it turns out the videos below are useful to people I can do the same for my mom's upcoming set!
EDIT: it seems the videos definitely show a higher quality on the YouTube app than embedded in the web page, so if you're in need of more details you know where to go!
Spotlighting
Diffuse daylighting
Indoors indirect light
Macro frontview
Macro sideview
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