About Moissanite Grading :
Moissanite is an affordable gemstone simulant that’s becoming a popular alternative for engagement rings and jewellery. Just like diamonds, rubies, and sapphires, moissanite is graded based on several quality factors known as the 4C’s – colour, clarity, cut and carat.
This blog discusses the 4 C’S of moissanite grading in-depth to help you make an informed moissanite purchases.
1. Moissanite Colour Grade
Your moissanite colour grade refers to the amount of colour present in the stone graded from a scale of D for colourless to Z for a slight yellow tint. Moissanite color grades are broken down into three major groups:
- Colorless: Comparable to a D, E, or F color grade
2. Slightly Colorless: Comparable to a G, H, or I color grade
3. Yellow Tinted: Comparable to a J or K color grade
2. Moissanite Clarity Grade
So if we’re talking clarity regarding a diamond or moissanite, we’re talking imperfections. Clarity grade indicates the number of imperfections, known as inclusions. Nearly all gemstones have inclusions, but luckily for moissanite, most of its inclusions are not visible to the naked eye and require intense magnification to be seen.
The clarity of your moissanite is dependent on the number of inclusions the stone has. These grades can be brown down into five easy to understand categories:
1. FL, IF: Flawless and internally flawless
2. VVS1, VVS2: Very, very slightly included
3. VS1, VS2: Very slightly included
4. SI1, SI2: Slightly included
5. I1, I2, I3: Included
So what are these INCLUSIONS we mentioned? Common moissanite inclusions are needles, mineral crystals, clouds, feathers, knots, chips and cavities.
Needle-like imperfections are the most common type of inclusions for moissanite. Needles are difficult to see without close observation, and only compromise the moissanite’s beauty if many needles are clustered together.
Mineral crystals are crystal like objects within your moissanite or diamond that appears lighter or darker. Clouds are milky looking spots within the stone. Feathers are miniature fractures within the gem, which look like a crack or a feather.
Knots look like white or transparent crystals within the stone, whereas chips are shallow openings on the stone’s surface, typically resulting from its owner accidentally damaging the moissanite during daily wear. Finally, cavities are just like a tooth cavity, moissanite cavities are openings on the stone that easily trap dirt and oil, creating unsightly dark spots.
3. Moissanite Cut Grade
The cut grade denotes how well a stone is cut and with grades ranging from Excellent to Poor. With excellent cut grades, light can best travel throughout the stone and sparkle. Alternatively, poorly cut stones will not allow light to effectively travel throughout the stone, resulting in a lifeless looking moissanite.
4. Moissanite Carat Weight
For diamonds, carat weight refers to how heavy the stone is. However, moissanite is less dense than which makes the two stones difficult to compare by weight. Due to the density difference, a moissanite’s “carat weight” is denoted by the stone’s size in millimeters.
Please refer to the image below to better visually understand the colour and clarity grading used for moissanites.
