Diamonds aren't a girl's best friend...

Dailymail.com ^ | 03-28-2017 | Hannah Parry

[CaptainK]

C&C doesn't cut their stones like diamonds. Their table facet is flat, whereas diamonds are cut with a raised one. The Amora stone I have has a raised table.

And only within the last year or so did C&C get the whiteness in their stones with their Forever One brand. Before that they were in the near colorless category in their Forever Brilliant And Classic brands.

[Swordmaker]

C&C doesn't cut their stones like diamonds. Their table facet is flat, whereas diamonds are cut with a raised one. The Amora stone I have has a raised table.

That's false. You cannot tell a Charles & Colvard Moissanite in its cut from any diamond. They are cut with the exact same cut as a diamond. Tables on diamonds, by definition, are flat to let out the light, regardless of what Amora may claim. There are specifications for refraction and they stay the same. I will agree they only recently achieved the pure whiteness, but Amora is only a follower with their Moissanites. Don't swallow their hype advertising.

The Amora site claims they have the "Whitest" Moissanite" white the J grade. . . but the Charles & Colvard Moissanite is D, E, & F grade. Sorry, Amora doesn't beat the leader in the industry.

[CaptainK]

I own both types of stones and a real diamond. Do you?

[CaptainK]

And the Amora Soaring Hearts is the competitor to the Forever One. The information you posted is for the older products.

[smokingfrog]

I think I may have seen the movie version long, long ago. I wonder how closely it follows the plot of the book?

[boatbums]

I have heard that Tanzanite has been found in several other places besides Tanzania though I don’t recall where. I have a 3 carat triple A rated, gem quality Tanzanite in a pear shape. It is a beautiful clean stone with deep blues and flashes of red. I had it mounted in 14k gold and had it surrounded with VS2-S1 round diamonds. Being that Tanzanite is a softer gem on the mohs scale, I have it as a pendant for a necklace rather than a ring. But, I rarely wear it anymore. I had two 1.2 carat loose round Kanchanaburi sapphires made into earrings to match also with diamonds surrounding them. A different life....

[Swordmaker]

I own both types of stones and a real diamond. Do you?

". . . a real diamond?" LOL! I have a 3.5 carat Moissanite on my left ring finger. . . surrounded by one carat of very good diamonds. . . and as I pointed out I have over 150 real diamonds. Look back at my comments. My girlfriend and I own quite a few real diamonds and also a lot of Moissanites. . . my girlfriend has a C&C 10 carat Moissanite in a solitaire ring mounted in a Skater's Waltz setting. I would bet we've been buying both types of stone for a lot longer than you, and in more quantity. I once bought fifty loose C&C Moissanites for a jewelry project I designed.

In case you might be wondering, here is what a 92 carat black diamond looks like (yes, that's my thumb and index finger in the photo). . . notice it has a flat table:

It's approximately 1 ⅛" in diameter. That ~250 carat one I was thinking of buying was only about 1 ⅓" in diameter. It's amazing what the square-cube law does to mass for just a tiny increase in size.

I've also bought Moissanites from manufacturers in India in various colors before C&C started offering colored Moissanite. The Indians couldn't make the colorless. . . but they could make almost any other color, including blue. They were the first to offer that color.

Try again to denigrate my knowledge of jewels another way.

[CaptainK]

The Amora Soaring Hearts look more real than the C&C Forever One.
The tops are cut different. I’m looking at both right now.

[Swordmaker]

I have heard that Tanzanite has been found in several other places besides Tanzania though I don’t recall where. I have a 3 carat triple A rated, gem quality Tanzanite in a pear shape. It is a beautiful clean stone with deep blues and flashes of red. I had it mounted in 14k gold and had it surrounded with VS2-S1 round diamonds. Being that Tanzanite is a softer gem on the mohs scale, I have it as a pendant for a necklace rather than a ring. But, I rarely wear it anymore. I had two 1.2 carat loose round Kanchanaburi sapphires made into earrings to match also with diamonds surrounding them. A different life....

No, Tanzanite is only found in Tanzania. . . in a specific area of Tanzania. The Government of Tanzania has split that area into four mining areas, Blocks A, B, C, and D.

In 1990, the Tanzanian government split the Tanzanite mines into four sections: Blocks A, B, C and D. Blocks A and C were awarded to large operators, while Blocks B and D were reserved for the local miners. In 2005 the government renewed the lease of Block C mine to Tanzanite One, who paid 40 million dollars for their lease and mining license.[citation needed] — Wikipedia

From Gemstone Facts: "Fact: There is only one region on earth where Tanzanites have been found, namely Tanzania."

You are right about the hardness of Tanzanite. . . it's about as hard as the hardest glass. It will wear less well than CZ which wears out in rings after a few years of stead wear. As such it should be considered only for cocktail ring use. A pendant is just fine. Your's sounds beautiful. My girlfriend has also has a 4 carat Tanzanite (mined from Block D, supposedly the best source) that was in a ring, and had it reset in a pendant along with her mother's Tanzanite of about the same size, with diamonds as well. It's gorgeous. They got them when Tanzanite was first released and quite inexpensive.

[Swordmaker]

The Amora Soaring Hearts look more real than the C&C Forever One.

Excuse me. . . but they are NOT cut differently. Amora lists the cut of their "Soaring Hearts" as a "Round Brilliant." Incidentally, this stone is not even graded on the color scale because it is blue!

Amora Gem Soaring Hearts Eternity Very Light Blue H&A Rounds

That is a specific jewelry definition with known and very defined parameters that MUST be met before it can be used. Here are the defined specifications of the "Round Brilliant cut" and how it is defined, whether it is cut by Tiffany, Charles & Colvard, Amora, or any other stone cutter:

Figures 1 and 2 show the facets of a round brilliant diamond.

The original round brilliant-cut was developed by Marcel Tolkowsky in 1919. The modern round brilliant consists of 58 facets (or 57 if the culet is excluded), ordinarily today cut in two pyramids placed base to base: 33 on the crown (the top half above the middle or girdle of the stone), truncated comparatively near its base by the table, and 25 on the pavilion (the lower half below the girdle), which has only the apex cut off to form the culet, around which 8 extra facets are sometimes added. In recent decades, most girdles are faceted. Many girdles have 32, 64, 80, or 96 facets; these facets are not counted in the total. While the facet count is standard, the actual proportions (crown height and angle, pavilion depth, etc.) are not universally agreed upon.

The depth of the round brilliant may vary according to the index of refraction of the material on which it is cut. A higher index would require a shallower stone. A lower index, a deeper stone to get similar brilliance and fire, but there are more secrets to the cutting to get what are called the "hearts and arrows" look seen through the table. I think that's what you are seeing in the photo of the Amora stone. It's the most desirable effect you can get on any stone and you can get it with diamonds and C&C Moissanites too, but it is NOT a different cut on the table. This is an optimal cut that gives a mirror and refraction effect that actually creates an illusion of hearts and arrow heads seen through the FLAT table. Here is that illusion:

Hearts and Arrows using a special viewer
on a wide tabled diamond for clarity.

My girlfriend's C&C 10 carat Moissanite has perfect hearts and arrows. . . and a flat table. Her $50k five carat wedding ring given to her by her late husband also has perfect hearts and arrows in the main 2.5 carat F color, VVS2 center stone. . . and a flat table.

Let's look at the Amora and the C&C Moissanites:

Top, Amora, Bottom, Charles & Colvard, both Round Brilliant Moissanites

The Amora is placed on a gray background and it is distinctly showing that background through the gem . . . it should not. Both however have a FLAT table, but the Amora's is remarkably, and almost impermissibly, small compared to the C&C which limits the light that can both enter and escape the stone. The C&C table has twice the area of the Amora.

[thecodont]

It sounds like the movie “Flawless” (2007, Demi Moore and Michael Caine) was based on that book.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780516/?ref_=nv_sr_2

[CaptainK]

Since you have never seen the product I recommended, but I own both, your comments are null and void.

[leaning conservative]

There is an actual movie w/ the same name that came out long ago. Starred Candice Bergen. Did not do the book justice. I just had such strong images in my head that it did not live up to them. I am going to check out the Demi Moore movie.

[wyokostur]

I worked for a jeweler in Vale Colorado for a summer. He made some beautiful rings. I chased and cleaned up the rings after the were cast. When I got married, I made our rings. He traded me drywall work at his place for the casting cost.

I carved a bull elk and mountains in our rings. They are one of a kind. No stones. Didn’t want any because of the work I do.