Moissanite Education

What is gemstone brilliance?

Your gemstone’s sparkle, or brilliance, is an optical property affected by its brilliance refractive index or BRI. When talking about brilliance in gemstones, we are referring to the light refracting in the interior of the stone, not the light reflecting off its surface. Brilliance is one of three terms used to describe the appearance of a gemstone as it reflects light. The other two are fire and luster. You can read more about a gemstone’s fire in this blog post.

What makes moissanite more brilliant than other gems?

The refractive index of gemstones is determined by directing light into the gemstone and then measuring the speed light reflects or refracts off its facets. The numerical result is

What is gemstone fire?

When light hits your gemstone and reflects, you see a sparkle and a prism of colors. These colors are known as fire. The gemological term for this is dispersion.

What gives a gemstone its fire?

A gemstone’s fire is determined by a gemological property called dispersion. When pure white light enters a non-opaque object such as a gemstone, it breaks into different wavelengths of light that are refracted by its internal facets. These spectral colors are the rainbow-like effect you see when you look at a gemstone.

Does fire affect price of a gem?

Yes, indirectly, a gemstone’s fire does affect the price of the stone because it shows the viewer how well the stone is cut. When properly cut, a gemstone will emit maximum fire and brilliance. If the stone is cut too shallow or deep, light will leak

When you purchase a piece of fine jewelry, you expect it to last a lifetime. And, it should. We’ve been in the gemstone business for more than 20 years and we’ve asked our resident expert Don O’Connell, chief operating officer and senior vice president of supply chain, to provide some helpful tips on how to take care of your fine jewelry.

Tips to making your jewelry and gemstones last a lifetime:

1. When in doubt, take it off. 

Fine jewelry, especially engagement and wedding rings, are designed for everyday wear. Moissanite, for example is measured at 9.25 on the MOHs hardness scale, which means it will resist scratching and daily wear and tear. In comparison, the hardest mineral on earth, diamond, is measured at a 10 on the MOHs hardness scale. Some gemstones, like emeralds and sapphires, are more susceptible to damage, while certain metals are softer than others. 

Like softer gemstones, certain malleable