Description

At last it’s here! The 10ct Moissanite solitaire I’ve been promising! (And now you know for sure that I’m a keeper of my promises! lol) If you thought my other Moissanite solitaire pieces are glorious, then let me introduce you to their GREAT-granddaddy! Living as I do in Michigan, it’s the time of year when things get gloomy, but the gloominess spared my eyesight today because this firecracker would otherwise blind me! Be warned that if you order this pendant it will be many dozens of times more fiery than it is in the ambient light of my living room where it had its photo shoot! Be warned also that this gem is not going to let people pass by without noticing it and you, so if you don’t like attention then this isn’t the necklace for you!

As with my smaller solitaires, this gemstone is nestled inside a basket-style setting that is quite substantial and is crafted from solid sterling silver that is then bathed in 18k white gold! It is firmly secured by six robust and smoothly-finished prongs. The elongated bail does give it extra length to maximize its fluidity, but you can shorten the chain using the 2″ extender if you wish to wear it choker-length. To be able to offer you affordable Moissanite pendants I opt to cut costs by selling them on lighter-weight chains, but I did upgrade this cable-link chain a bit so it can handle the weight of the pendant. (If you plan to wear it every day rather than just on special occasions, however, I would recommend purchasing a heavier chain just to be safe because the pendant, as you can imagine, is weighty!) The total chain length is 18″ including the extender and has a spring ring clasp, also 18k gold-embraced!

“If it’s not good enough for me, then it’s not good enough for my customers. If I wouldn’t wear it, it doesn’t belong in my shop.” – Heather Constable

My Personal Guarantee:

I hand-select every Moissanite and Ethiopian opal I offer in my shop to complement my hand-made jewelry items, and I pledge to offer you genuine Moissanite and opal jewelry at the lowest prices on . I test every Moissanite I buy – even from gemstone dealers I trust and EVEN when the Moissanites come with certificates of authenticity! – so you can be certain it will pass your own tester. I closely inspect every Ethiopian opal I have set to be certain of its grading and security in its setting. I pledge to never get lazy or sloppy with quality assurance because I understand that it’s your investment on the line. I know that you can spend your money elsewhere, so also at stake is my integrity as a shop owner to honor your trust in me for all your Moissanite, Ethiopian opal and genuine gemstone purchases! So please don’t be wary of my low prices – I negotiate good deals on loose gemstones and settings, and I double-check everything so that I can honor my pledge to bring you the best genuine gemstone jewelry at the lowest prices! And if you are ever unhappy with a purchase for any reason – or even if you just changed your mind! – I offer you a worry-free 14-day money back guarantee with free return service! So feel free to indulge in the unrivaled beauty of Moissanite and Ethiopian opal to complement any hand-made item in my shop, and then feel good wearing genuine gemstone jewelry that you bought wisely at a price point lower than even others’ sale prices!

You will find more comprehensive information about Moissanite further down, but the most important thing to know about this gemstone is that it’s 2 times more refractive than diamond, which is just a fancy way of saying that it’s twice as fiery and sparkly! The second most important thing to know is that Moissanite is a GENUINE gemstone, but because it is so exceedingly rare in nature all Moissanite on the market is lab-grown. It looks like the most perfect, colorless diamond – so much so that before the patent protecting its creation expired it was only set in precious metals like platinum and gold!

Your Moissanite will come with its own certificate of authenticity, but this is a small detail! The BIG deal is that unlike the certificate, which will sit unnoticed in your jewelry box just as mine does, the gemstone itself will show off like crazy, sending out dazzling sparks of colorful fire when it’s touched by even the smallest bit of light! And YOU will glow just as brightly when you experience this gemstone for yourself! It’s literally addictive because it’s such a majestic gemstone that you don’t have to be a millionaire to afford, but will make you look like a millionaire because it’s so immaculate and dazzling!

I have been in love with Moissanite for almost 20 years, as it rivals the beauty and fire of the most colorless, perfect diamond! I even swapped out my diamond engagement ring for a 3 carat Moissanite solitaire set in white gold, and the earring studs I wear are 2 carats each of Moissanite in white gold. My ring and original Moissanite studs cost me a little over a thousand dollars each – on sale! But my teenage son claimed my studs as his own, so I had to buy myself a new almost identical pair that cost me 1/10th of the original pair (just $100)! Here’s why:

From 1998 to 2015 a company called Charles & Colvard held a U.S. patent that allowed them the exclusive right to produce, cut and sell Moissanite as a gemstone (C&C also patented Moissanite in dozens of other countries). I had bought my ring and first pair of Moissanite studs as certified Charles & Colvard Moissanites. When the patent held byC&C expired in August of 2015, every gem lab was free to grow Moissanite crystals, cut them into gemstones and offer them for sale. The market for this gorgeous gemstone was finally competitive, and with Moissanite more abundantly available it plummeted in price (to 1/10th the price in the case of my replacement studs!). Although much more affordable, Moissanite still easily competes with diamond in its ability to drink in light and shoot it back out in a dazzling array of colorful sparkles!

My lessons learned from my love affair with Moissanite is that before I buy an expensive brand of something, I would be wise to check the expiration date of the brand’s patent! All kidding aside, I can rejoice in the knowledge that my Creator holds my eternal patent so I will forever remain a singular creation! I do, however, have a mortal expiration date, so I must strive in the time I have left to shoot forth a thousand rays of love and light upon my fellow man. You too are a singular creation, with your own gifts and ability to affect this world in a positive and meaningful way! If we all do our best to shine with the light that is within us, we have the capability to make this world a little brighter for the people in our orbit!

Why I love it: I love the clean, vibrant fire of Moissanite! A gemstone’s fire is determined by its “refractive index”, or its capacity to bend light when it enters the stone. The more light a gemstone can bend, the more fire, or colorful rays of light, it produces. Optically, diamond is singly refractive, whereas Moissanite is doubly refractive. Put simply, Moissanite produces twice the fire of diamond, and in gemology more fire means more brilliance means greater beauty!

Information about this gemstone: Moissanite was first discovered in 1893 by French chemist Henri Moissan (from whom this beautiful mineral derives its name). Henri was exploring a meteorite crater in Canyon Diablo in Arizona when he noticed some unfamiliar crystals. Chemical analysis of the crystals revealed that they were silicon carbide. Because this was the first documented discovery of Moissanite in nature and it had been found in a meteor crater, it was assumed that the crystals traveled to earth aboard the ancient asteroid that made the Canyon Diablo. However, Moissanite has since been found as inclusions in diamonds and other minerals in several different countries, suggesting that the crystals Henri discovered were likely already there before the meteorite struck. Nonetheless, natural occurrences of Moissanite crystals are very, very rare so it is exceedingly scarce as a naturally occurring mineral.

In the late 1980’s a company in North Carolina called Cree Research, Inc. developed a process that produced large individual crystals of Moissanite. Because Moissanite is a very hard mineral (just shy of diamond’s hardness, in fact), the crystals produced by Cree Research were used in electronics and manufacturing applications. (Note: Moissanite ranks 9.25 out of 10 on the Mohs Scale of Mineral Hardness, diamond ranks 10.) In1995 a man named Charles Hunter, who worked for Cree’s umbrella company C3, was able to duplicate and perfect the process for growing Moissanite crystals and secured a patent to market gem-quality Moissanite under the brand name Charles and Colvard. C&Cs U.S. patent for growing Moissanite crystals and marketing Moissanite gemstones expired in 2015, and in 2018 all C&C Moissanite patents expired worldwide. With every gem-growing lab now free to grow and sell Moissanite, this gorgeous gemstone increased in abundance and popularity as it simultaneously decreased in price.

Fun fact: Because Moissanite is doubly refractive, you can see double if you look through a Moissanite crystal at just the right angle!