Start a conversation
 

Jewelry Terms

  • Types of Stone Setting

      Prong Settings Shared Prong Settings In this classic setting, two or more prongs wrap around the crown of a stone to secure it in place. Also known as a claw setting, this mounting style minimizes t...

  • Windowing

    Windowing is an optical phenomenon that occurs when light passes through a gemstone without being refracted. If windowing is present in a gemstone the observer can look through the stone at certain an...

  • Durability (Imperviousness to Heat & Chemicals)

    Durability is a material's ability to remain intact or withstand exposure to temperature and chemicals. Moissanite can easily withstand temperature variations during the jewelry manufacturing process ...

  • Hardness (Resistance to Scratching)

    Hardness refers to a gemstone's resistance to being scratched or abraded and is commonly expressed as a number ranking (1 being the softest and 10 being the hardest) on Mohs relative hardness scale. M...

  • Toughness (Resistance to Chipping)

    The ability of a gemstone to remain intact, withstand force (pressure) and resist breaking or chipping is known as toughness. Determined by a substance's atomic and chemical structure, toughness can v...

  • Luster

    Luster is the amount of light that is reflected back to the observer from the surface of the gemstone. In addition to superior fire and brilliance, Moissanite has 18% greater luster than a diamond and...

  • Brilliance & Refractive Index

    The refractive index is the measurement of a gemstones ability to slow down, bend, and reflect light. The greater the R.I., the greater the brilliance of the gemstone.  Brilliance is the flashes of wh...

  • Fire (Dispersion)

    Fire (also called dispersion) is when light that enters a gemstone (Moissanite, diamond, CZ, etc.) and is split into all the different colors of the rainbow. Fire is colored light flashes. Moissanite ...