This Valentine’s Day are you celebrating your love for someone or looking for someone new to love? When it comes to love how do you know it’s real and true?  At Gold Smart we are grateful for everyday that’s shared with those we love and cherish the memories created.

Sometimes we can be in relationships that are not healthy and yet find it difficult to move on and break free. If he gave you diamonds and gold, how do you know it’s real? How heart-breaking would it be to find out his gifts were not all he said they were. Yet this is something we see at Gold Smart – boyfriends, husbands, lovers giving presents that are lower carat or simply fake. These are the ones you have probably already left and may not be too surprised to find out all that glitters may not be gold.

How do you know when true love abounds? Well, that’s something you’ll need to discover for yourself – however the team at Gold Smart are experts in determining the authenticity and value of your gold and diamond jewellery.

To-morrow is Saint Valentine’s day,
All in the morning betime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine.
Then up he rose, and donn’d his clothes,
And dupp’d the chamber-door;
Let in the maid, that out a maid
Never departed more.

—William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 5

 

Diamonds, which one is real and which one is fake?

All that glitters is sometimes not real! Can you tell which is the real diamond in the image to the right? Even the experts have been fooled by artificial diamonds called “Synthetic Moissanite”, diamond simulants or just “Moissanite” after the mineral name.

Wikipedia States: “Mineral moissanite was discovered by Henri Moissan while examining rock samples from a meteor crater located in Canyon Diablo, Arizona in 1893. At first, he mistakenly identified the crystals as diamonds, but in 1904 he identified the crystals as silicon carbide (SiC). The mineral form of silicon carbide was named moissanite in honor of Moissan later on in his life.”

Moissanite in it’s natural form is very rare – however it can also be manufactured in the lab as Silicon Carbide (SiC), also known as Carborundum (composed of silicon and carbon and used in various electronic applications).

“As a gemstone used in jewelry, silicon carbide is called “synthetic moissanite” or just “moissanite” after the mineral name. Moissanite is similar to diamond in several important respects: it is transparent and hard (9-9.5) on the Mohs scale (compared to 10 for diamond), with a refractive index between 2.65 and 2.69 (compared to 2.42 for diamond). Moissanite is somewhat harder than common cubic zirconia. Unlike diamond, moissanite can be strongly birefringent (double refraction).”

“Moissanite has become popular as a diamond substitute, and may be misidentified as diamond, since its thermal conductivity is much closer to that of diamond than any other diamond substitutes. Many thermal diamond testing devices are fooled by moissanite, but the gem can be distinguished from diamond by its birefringence and a very slight green or yellow fluorescence under ultraviolet light. Some moissanite stones also have curved string-like inclusions, which diamond will never have.”

If you are considering selling diamonds, talk with the team at Gold Smart for a no-obligation and free valuation of your diamond’s value.  Gold Smart are buying diamonds and will happily walk you through the process of careful analysis of the “Four C’s” – Diamond Cut, Diamond Clarity, Diamond Colour and Diamond Carat Weight.

P.S. Call us to find out which is the real Diamond – 0800 465 376