Aterna by Quorri
- Thread starter AndieH
- Start date
I had a bad feeling about the Aterna. I didn’t like their marketing and felt that anyone (I mean anyone) could video the stones in different lighting and show that on their website. Fast forward, I am now the proud owner of a Diamelia Moissanite gem. It is spectacular. I wanted to order an Neo for comparison but just didn’t. I wanted to order from Port City (their Eternal like looks gorgeous and is half the price) but they have a no return policy which doesn’t sit well with me.
The Diamelia is gorgeous. Cut like a diamond. Definitely not disco bally like the C&CF1. Never bought the Amora bc I heard that it is fiery like the F1 (and some ethical issues i heard about). My biggest issue is deciding between the 9& 9.mm
. Pic below but it’s hard to tell. Next to my real 2ct it’s impossible to tell.
The Diamelia is gorgeous. Cut like a diamond. Definitely not disco bally like the C&CF1. Never bought the Amora bc I heard that it is fiery like the F1 (and some ethical issues i heard about). My biggest issue is deciding between the 9& 9.mm
. Pic below but it’s hard to tell. Next to my real 2ct it’s impossible to tell.
I recently purchased a fiery diamond (mined) and love its personality. Don’t think I’d mind it in a stimulant/alternative. To me, cut is priority. Yet, I haven’t 100% decided if I want the CZ or SiC to look like a diamond, or if I want the stone’s own natural beauty to shine. As an example, I love sapphires, but I don’t think that cutting them to the same specs as a MRB diamond would accentuate their beauty, even a white one. I appreciate a cutter taking the atomic-level nuances of a gem into consideration to maximize color and light performance. Still, it comes down to personal preference in the end and what one’s eyes are attracted to. For me, I wouldn’t mind owning various SiC polytypes cut to different proportions/standards so that I can wear different flavors depending on my mood.
Hi all,
To address the fiery comments, here's a video of an Amora Eternity next to a $45K H&A mined diamond. You could make a matched pair from them
H&A cuts by their nature will show both more fire and brilliance vs a regular cut round (in diamonds, Amora, etc). The whole point of H&A cutting is to maximize the amount of light returned to the eye. Lesser cuts will leak more light and thus not be as brilliant or fiery.
Re: ethical issues - there are no ethical or environmental issues with the Amora. The only remote thing I'm aware of is that we've heard of false accusations from a former seller who lost their Amora seller privileges due to a number of ethical violations including being caught posting as a customer here on our boards (their anonymizer software wasn't as good as they thought), and whom later, we and then AGS labs went after for their false advertising that the F1 Moissanite was cut to AGS-000 standards (it's not, F1 is cut to an AGS-4).
So consider the source and any concerns, anyone is welcome to post about them here.
Re: Aeterna, etc. - there are only 3 or 4 growers in the entire world for gem quality SiC due to the high costs involved for the setup to grow. Almost all of the various brands out there all come from the same Chinese grower, except for Amora and C&C Moissanite. You could look at our Phoenix Moissanite for example to get a similar crystal as these other brands. Phoenix Moissanite H&A rounds page.
The Amora is unique in that it is the only one that does not need a post growth color enhancement among other things. In customer testing, for example, 100% of people immediately spotted the Amora and deemed it as the most beautiful when next to a Phoenix and F1. They then couldn't differentiate between the F1 and Phoenix, except the Phoenix price is much lower.
The flip side for the Amora though, is it also means things like we are now almost entirely sold out of 6mm and have no foreseeable rough to replace it. This is because of the growth process itself where the size can't be monitored and due to the expense, we certainly can't cut down larger rough just to make a specific size.
Hope that helps,
Less
To address the fiery comments, here's a video of an Amora Eternity next to a $45K H&A mined diamond. You could make a matched pair from them
H&A cuts by their nature will show both more fire and brilliance vs a regular cut round (in diamonds, Amora, etc). The whole point of H&A cutting is to maximize the amount of light returned to the eye. Lesser cuts will leak more light and thus not be as brilliant or fiery.
Re: ethical issues - there are no ethical or environmental issues with the Amora. The only remote thing I'm aware of is that we've heard of false accusations from a former seller who lost their Amora seller privileges due to a number of ethical violations including being caught posting as a customer here on our boards (their anonymizer software wasn't as good as they thought), and whom later, we and then AGS labs went after for their false advertising that the F1 Moissanite was cut to AGS-000 standards (it's not, F1 is cut to an AGS-4).
So consider the source and any concerns, anyone is welcome to post about them here.
Re: Aeterna, etc. - there are only 3 or 4 growers in the entire world for gem quality SiC due to the high costs involved for the setup to grow. Almost all of the various brands out there all come from the same Chinese grower, except for Amora and C&C Moissanite. You could look at our Phoenix Moissanite for example to get a similar crystal as these other brands. Phoenix Moissanite H&A rounds page.
The Amora is unique in that it is the only one that does not need a post growth color enhancement among other things. In customer testing, for example, 100% of people immediately spotted the Amora and deemed it as the most beautiful when next to a Phoenix and F1. They then couldn't differentiate between the F1 and Phoenix, except the Phoenix price is much lower.
The flip side for the Amora though, is it also means things like we are now almost entirely sold out of 6mm and have no foreseeable rough to replace it. This is because of the growth process itself where the size can't be monitored and due to the expense, we certainly can't cut down larger rough just to make a specific size.
Hope that helps,
Less
[QUOTE="talk-admin,The Amora is unique in that it is the only one that does not need a post growth color enhancement among other things. In customer testing, for example, 100% of people immediately spotted the Amora and deemed it as the most beautiful when next to a Phoenix and F1. They then couldn't differentiate between the F1 and Phoenix, except the Phoenix price is much lower. [/QUOTE]
Less,
Thank you for clarifying. Although I’m neither a chemist nor a geologist, I’d like to learn more about how moissanite is created. I was under the impression that the 4H-SiC polytype (all 4H) has a shorter band gap then the 6H, and is thus able to achieve “naturally” whiter crystal (C&C F1?) unlike the 6H (C&C Forever Brilliant?).
In other words, do some formulations of 4H still require post growth color enhancement? Further, my online search identified color enhancement as fixing broken bonds. C&C previously coated the Forever Brilliant, but I think they have since stopped this process. If so, is the Amora a “premium” version of 4H with fewer broken bonds that doesn’t require such treatment, whereas the Phoenix requires treatment? Or is the Amora a completely different proprietary polytype from the other 4H brands, and thus the only one not requiring post-growth color enhancement? And is the Phoenix a 4H that is of similar crystal to the F1 or is it a 6H? Want to make sure I’m comparing apples to apples.
With regards to color treatment: I understand the concern for “mined” diamonds; there are those who dislike the idea of clarity- and/or color-enhancements, while others welcome it for affordability reasons. However, most lab-grown diamonds go through some form of color enhancement. Since moissanite is also lab-grown, is additional treatment really that bad, especially if it’s not a coating? Or is color enhancement for moissanite not permanent like it is for diamond? Can the color-enhanced moissanite change color over time?
Thank you again.
Less,
Thank you for clarifying. Although I’m neither a chemist nor a geologist, I’d like to learn more about how moissanite is created. I was under the impression that the 4H-SiC polytype (all 4H) has a shorter band gap then the 6H, and is thus able to achieve “naturally” whiter crystal (C&C F1?) unlike the 6H (C&C Forever Brilliant?).
In other words, do some formulations of 4H still require post growth color enhancement? Further, my online search identified color enhancement as fixing broken bonds. C&C previously coated the Forever Brilliant, but I think they have since stopped this process. If so, is the Amora a “premium” version of 4H with fewer broken bonds that doesn’t require such treatment, whereas the Phoenix requires treatment? Or is the Amora a completely different proprietary polytype from the other 4H brands, and thus the only one not requiring post-growth color enhancement? And is the Phoenix a 4H that is of similar crystal to the F1 or is it a 6H? Want to make sure I’m comparing apples to apples.
With regards to color treatment: I understand the concern for “mined” diamonds; there are those who dislike the idea of clarity- and/or color-enhancements, while others welcome it for affordability reasons. However, most lab-grown diamonds go through some form of color enhancement. Since moissanite is also lab-grown, is additional treatment really that bad, especially if it’s not a coating? Or is color enhancement for moissanite not permanent like it is for diamond? Can the color-enhanced moissanite change color over time?
Thank you again.
Hi KarDiam,
Great questions but a lot of them lol. I'm going to address each but I'm going to move some of them to their respective forums so the info is more visible than buried here.
Let me address the first one that caught my eye:
"However, most lab-grown diamonds go through some form of color enhancement. "
This is definitely not true in terms of "most".
Some CVD grown (gas grown) may do a touch of HPHT afterwards but this is b/c CVD does not produce as good a color as HPHT for diamonds.
Our Takara white lab diamonds for example, are ultra pure, HPHT grown and have no post growth treatment.
"there are those who dislike the idea of clarity- and/or color-enhancements"
Also, clarity enhanced is a completely different deal.
Clarity enhanced usually involves drilling a hole (via laser) into the diamond to burn out or remove an inclusion (or inclusions) and that hole or holes are then plugged with some kind of filler material. Structurally, you have a filled diamond vs by contrast a color enhanced (i.e. HPHT enhanced) has nothing added to it and remains 100% diamond with no filler.
I'll move this over to the lab diamond forum and go through the Amora/SiC questions in the Amora forum so it's more visible.
Hope you are doing well,
Less
Great questions but a lot of them lol. I'm going to address each but I'm going to move some of them to their respective forums so the info is more visible than buried here.
Let me address the first one that caught my eye:
"However, most lab-grown diamonds go through some form of color enhancement. "
This is definitely not true in terms of "most".
Some CVD grown (gas grown) may do a touch of HPHT afterwards but this is b/c CVD does not produce as good a color as HPHT for diamonds.
Our Takara white lab diamonds for example, are ultra pure, HPHT grown and have no post growth treatment.
"there are those who dislike the idea of clarity- and/or color-enhancements"
Also, clarity enhanced is a completely different deal.
Clarity enhanced usually involves drilling a hole (via laser) into the diamond to burn out or remove an inclusion (or inclusions) and that hole or holes are then plugged with some kind of filler material. Structurally, you have a filled diamond vs by contrast a color enhanced (i.e. HPHT enhanced) has nothing added to it and remains 100% diamond with no filler.
I'll move this over to the lab diamond forum and go through the Amora/SiC questions in the Amora forum so it's more visible.
Hope you are doing well,
Less