I bought a 1.75 carat Charles & Colvard loose gem for $400 and had it set by a local jeweler for $50. Cheapest identically spec'd diamond I could find at the time was $22,000. They seem to sell this brand of stones everywhere now. I would highly recommend you check it out in person next to an actual diamond and you will immediately see what I mean. I ordered several from C&C, whom at the time had a very generous return policy, and kept the nicest one. I would recommend you check out a few different places tho because there are definitely people out there trying to pawn off lower quality slightly green/gray stones on unsuspecting buyers.

It's interesting that until recently, C&C held multi national patents on moissanite (silicon carbide) for jewelery. It seems like the patent specifically covers lab grown gems.

These patents only expired in the last few years, and as recently as 2018 in Mexico.

https://patents.google.com/patent/US5723391

Thank you for sharing this information!

Thank you for that information!

same with me - the big price difference does not seem to be there - where can one buy these amazingly priced moissanites?

When I bought one, Charles & Colvard was a good source. Helzberg Diamonds is also a good place to look, and they can set one you bought online for a reasonable price.

I got a 3 carat moissanite pendant necklace from Helzberg for ~$1500. The same thing in diamond would have been well into 5 digits. My wife loves it and gets a lot of compliments on it.

FWIW, I got my wife's engagement ring at www.moissaniteco.com about five years ago. She's been thrilled with the quality and we got nothing but befuddled wows at the 1.5 carat stone.