Greener Than Envy

I have a soft spot for green diamonds. There are so few of them, that most people have only seen them in photos.

natural green pear shaped diamond

Dresden green diamond

Take the Dresden Green diamond for instance.
Well . . . actually you can't take it. This robin's egg sized green whopper has lived in Dresden, Germany for the last few hundred years. It is about 41 carats in size but valuers claim it likely weighed closer to 100 carats in the rough.  This rare stone is naturally colored of course. When it came on the scene in 1722, enhancement capabilities did not exit for inducing color in a diamond.

Like some genuine green diamonds on the market, the Dresden green diamond obtained its apple green tint from natural exposure to radioactivity underground.  Since that is what happened to earth mined diamonds resulting in their green hue, modern methods in the lab can also create green stones after subjection to irradiation.

All good. Still I came across some interesting stones recently---green moissanite which gives a pretty good rendition of the sparkly green  story,


green moissanite ring
Moissanite is a manufactured stone made from silicon carbide--the stuff used in manufacturing LED light bulbs. As a diamond alternative it's hard, durable and less costly than its diamond counterpart. It's actually more brilliant than a diamond,  yet it's luster is vitreous compared to diamond's adamantine luster. It's pretty straightforward to separate moissanite from diamond by gemologists owing to moissanite's double refraction.

Now that moissanite is produced in color, I'm thinking it's an interesting stone in its own right.

Moral of this yarn is if you get bit by the green diamond bug, you actually have a few options that make it affordable to collect.. The Dresden will never be in someone's private collection. Many certified natural green diamonds also are outside most people's reach. But irradiated natural diamonds are affordable in the enviable hue. And now that moissanite offers greenies to boot, well, it just widens the field even more doesn't it?

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