Zircon vs cubic zirconia – history and origin

Zircon is the oldest mineral found on earth. It doesn’t get any more historical than that! The oldest zircon crystals discovered, comes from Australia and is estimated to be over a whopping 4.4 billion years old. Zircon is a natural gemstone and while synthetic versions exist, they aren’t very common.

 

Zircon vs cubic zirconia – durability

Over time, CZ may tend to get cloudy so regular cleaning will maintain its shine. Eventually, you may have to have the stone replaced but considering the low cost and the ease with which you can find a new CZ, this shouldn’t be an issue.

 

 

White Zircon

 

 

Zircon is found in a range of colors, with the most popular being blue, pink and yellow. Colorless zircon is its purest form, but is considered the least valuable type of zircon. Green zircon is very valuable and highly coveted, but also extremely rare.

 

Zircon receives its color through the presence of trace elements during formation. Interestingly, some of the elements are radioactive! However, these are treated for stability and to be safe to use in jewelry and are not believed to be harmful. Some zircon is treated to enhance color and transparency. Sometimes a more common zircon variety (usually brown) is treated to display a more desirable color (usually blue).

 

“It is difficult to say which stone is better, as both have their advantages and disadvantages and it entirely depends on your reason for buying the gemstone. As you can see, both are very different stones and both are appealing in their own way.”

Mohan Salvi shared

 

Zircon vs cubic zirconia – light performance 

Because zircon has double refraction, it displays excellent fire and gives off the illusion of having more facets than it really does. This birefringence, however, can also cause zircon to appear fuzzy and cloudy at times.

Cubic zirconia has an RI 2.15 – 2.18, which is higher than zircon.  However, although both stones sparkle, a CZ cannot match the higher level of brilliance that a zircon has. Like zircon, CZ is also cut into a variety of shapes like diamonds

 

 

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