At the time Marilyn Monroe sang ‘Diamonds are a girl’s best friends’ she could have been speaking for a lot of girls. But then again, she was singing during a period before cubic zirconia. Monroe was singing during a period when diamonds were over the budget of some, so diamonds were in fact just the best friend of the blessed few. At the time Monroe was singing, there was quite a lot of interest in imitation diamonds, however items were not quality and also hard to find. Who might have believed, then, that a couple of men in white coats in a laboratory might change the jewellery world, kicking off a period of product sales of cubic zirconia pendants and ear-rings which would change cubic zirconia into a desirable jewel in its own right?
Clearly, both researchers had more important things to be looking into compared to the trivialities of the world of jewellery. They were in fact seeking to make cubic zirconia, which had (and has) only actually been discovered once in its naturally formed state, synthetically for use as a simulation ruby in laser technologies. It was in the Seventies that they were firstly in a position to create cubic zirconia for use in lasers. It was quickly noticed that cubic zirconia was much like diamonds both visually and gemologically, therefore it quickly grew to become popular in jewellery.
Cubic zirconia pendants and ear-rings are so popular nowadays mainly because they really are unbelievably similar looking to diamonds. It’s absolutely no exaggeration that few jewellers can differenciate between the two using just the naked eye. This advantage is coupled with the fact cubic zirconia costs around a tenth of the cost of natural diamond.
The scientific world further aided the case of cubic zirconia pendants, ear-rings and bracelets in the nineties, by increasing the quality of the gem. A very thin layer was added to the gem, named DLC or Amorphous Diamond. This resulted in the gem becoming a lot more hard and lustrous and thus a lot more diamond-like.
So now, if you buy your cubic zirconia pendants, ear-rings or other jewellery, you’ll be aware that you are wearing an amazing little bit of beautiful jewellery that is available only due to the miracles of science!
