Tips for distinguishing the real thing from moissanite?

[kelpie]

Y'all know by now, I am the ebay queen. I used to have a diamond tester that I'd use on every piece I bought but it's broken. Only one piece ever failed the test, and I eventually got my money back. Although my tester only knew "diamond" or "not diamond" so maybe it could be fooled by moissanite.

I have a find that almost made me wonder if it was too good to be true for $400. These are 14k .99ctw earrings but face up more like a massive 1.75 like a lot of trilliants do. Each side is around 6 or 6.5mm. I don't know any other specs. They have touch of color (I-K? it's tough with the gold) and possibly slight inclusions...but could also be the "crushed ice" cut. They don't fog at all. Each side has three barely distinguishable facets along the girdle. Is there an at home test I can do to suggest further that it's not moissanite? Don't get me wrong I am thrilled with them, just covering the bases. I am in Tanzania, and while there are gem dealers on every block I'm not sure they have this equipment.

 

[MustangGal]

Do you have a gage? I've only seen moissy in calibrated sizes, so it they're not a round number (4.5mm, 5mm, etc) that would point more to diamond. The ones I own also have much shallower crowns than my diamonds. You could also look up pics of moissy trilliants and compare the facet structure. Moissy is cut differently than diamond because of it's nature, and you might be able to tell the difference.

 

[kelpie]

Thanks MustangGal. Good idea to check with a gauge. I'm surprised my ballpark was pretty close. In very non-precise terms, I got just over 6 to 6.5 and a least two sides that were 7mm so that points to non calibrated. They do have a very shallow crown...necessitated by the hunch that the depth is in the 40's percentage range. When i google "moissanite trilliant" the cuts all seem to have slightly bowed out sides whereas these are straight. You've been very helpful and it's enough to put my mind at ease. Thanks again!

 

[aviastar]

Hi kelpie flip the stones over and view them through a loupe or a microscope if you have one-moissanite will have what my jeweler (who I have a sneaking suspicion is also your jeweler back in the states-) calls worm holes. Or look for any sort of natural inclusion a diamond would have, the moissanite won't have those feathers, inclusions, what have you.
Nice find by the way and good luck!

 

[denverappraiser]

Moissonite is doubly refractive, diamonds are singly refractive. If you carefully look at the culet through one of the crown facets (NOT though the table) you'll see a doubling on moissonite and not on diamond. It takes a little bit of practice but as soon as you get it down you can tell the difference in a matter of seconds using nothing more than a loupe.

 

[kelpie]

Ah yes, we must congratulate eachother on our fabulous taste in jewelers. These are earrings for now but someday these will be sidestones for said fabulous jeweler to make into a pink spinel ring.

Wormholes sound spooky. I was trying to loupe it with a cheapy 60x but it was way too close to see what was going on. I had a good 10x loupe but it must have been lost in the move. I will pop into one of the countless tanzanite retailers and borrow theirs. Thanks!

 

[kelpie]

Moissonite is doubly refractive, diamonds are singly refractive. If you carefully look at the culet through one of the crown facets (NOT though the table) you'll see a doubling on moissonite and not on diamond. It takes a little bit of practice but as soon as you get it down you can tell the difference in a matter of seconds using nothing more than a loupe.

Thank you, Neil. I suppose I will need to see the moissanite compared to a diamond to truly get a feel for the difference but that is excellent advice for those cruising pawn shops and estate sales because I wager the average poster here always has a loupe on their person.

 

[LGK]

Yeah, try to find a moissy to look at. They have a very distinctive look that, IMO, isn't really that close to diamond. The much, much higher dispersion is a dead giveaway- and after you've seen it once, it's lots easier to spot- they give off a LOT of rainbow fire. And the double refraction is also something you can spot after examining one... it makes the facets a little fuzzy/not crisp looking even to the naked eye, and more so through a loupe. (And a RB cut moissanite has a very weird facet pattern with super, super skinny LGFs that, combined with the double refraction, creates a weird sort of whirlpool-like pattern in the center, it's absolutely distinctive looking.) If you're familiar with the way a diamond looks- and I know you are! - if you ever run across a round moissanite being passed as a diamond, I'm sure you'd be struck immediately by how oddball the thing looks compared to a diamond even at arms length; a trilliant moissanite too would probably not look *that* much like a diamond to an even moderately experienced eye, though I admit I haven't seen one of those in person.

In short, I doubt you have anything to worry about- you'd have noticed the difference I think if they were moissanite.