There is little doubt that diamonds are one of the most elegant
of the precious stones, and that diamond jewelry is simply a joy
to wear. Unfortunately, though many of us are unable to afford
the diamond jewelry we would so dearly love, as the great beauty
and value of the stone are translated into the price that you
have to pay to own one. Enter diamond alternatives.
Traditionally, it was seen as a great compromise, a
disappointment, to be forced by financial considerations into
choosing from one of the diamond alternatives available, but
thankfully, in this age of technological advancement, there are
real alternatives to diamonds, stones that capture the same
beauty, without compromise.
Most of us, when thinking of diamond alternatives, consider more
traditional replacements, such as cubic zirconia, first
discovered in 1937. First sold for mass consumption purposes in
the 1980s by the jeweller Swarovski, it gained great popularity
at first, but later came to be considered as unfashionable and
undesirable, a far cry from the real thing.
But if it is the real thing that you are looking for, but
without the enormous price tag that goes with it, then there is
a new alternative that is so close to diamond in appearance that
it is even fooling the experts. Diamond alternatives don’t come
any better than this.
Moissanite is the latest diamond alternative, and in some ways
it is even superior to the ‘real thing’. Moissanite has a
similar pattern of refraction to diamonds, unlike diamonds, it
is hexagonal – which, to the lay person, translates into facet
edges that are doubled when compared to diamonds, producing a
stone that is twice as glittering as its ‘real’ counterpart. As
those in the know would say, moissanite offers a gem with twice
the fire of a diamond.
Gone are the days when diamond alternatives were second best.
With developments in the gem trade like moissanite, our choices
are expanding and we will, no doubt, soon find that diamonds are
not our first choice in the finest jewelry anymore.
Diamond alternatives are more and more popular, and now are so
good that they are as appealing as diamonds, but at a much
reduced cost.
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