FREE: Replica but Working Culti Diamond Selector II - Diamond Tester - Free Shipping

The listing, Replica but Working Culti Diamond Selector II - Diamond Tester - Free Shipping has ended.

This is a cheap replica Culti Diamond Selector II diamond tester made in Hong Kong. The real ones are made in Japan. It still works. It's not a very nice thing to do to sell replica items, but I bought this for lisitng on Listia but only realized later it wasn't made by Culti.

These can be had on eBay for $15 including shipping, but they ship from Hong Kong which takes 2- 4 weeks. I will ship immediately from the US via 1st class Package Rate.

If you look up this item on Amazon it has only two stars, however that rating is inaccurate from my point of view. I tested the another Diamond Selector II I used to own against the more expensive RS Mizar Prestige Series II ($86.90 new from iGEM) which I also own and they performed identically.

This tester works by heating up a metal tip. Diamonds are extremely heat absorbing whereas almost all other simulants including CZ, are heat insulators. Therefore when you touch the stone, the machine figures out how much heat is lost and whether the stone has the profile of a diamond.

The only simulant that has the same heat absorption profile to diamonds is moissanite. Moissanite is the same as diamond chemically except some carbon atoms are replaced with silicone. It's also called Silicone Carbide and is also transparent and very hard. It's used in sandpaper for instance. At any rate Moissanite is only worth 1/10 to 1/20th of diamonds.

Moissanite is relatively rare and usually can be visually differentiated by experienced jewelers. I read online that currently the best color moissanite is slightly greenish. Also, because of the double refraction of moissanite, facets observed though the stone will appear doubled.

If you are also concerned whether you know the difference, get a moissanite detector too. These start $25 on eBay and may be a good investment for beginners like me (I have one). These work because moissanite is a semiconductor of electricity whereas diamonds don't conduct electricity.