OK.........WHAT IS A CZ?: CZ aka Cubic Zirconia Comes Closer Than Any Other Material To Matching The Characteristics Of A Diamond or Gemstone. It is Often Hard To Distinguish The Difference With The Naked Eye. FIRE & BRILLIANCE: CZs Have Slightly Less Brilliance (Liveliness and Sparkle) Than Diamonds, But Has MORE Fire (Flashes of Rainbow Colors). HARDNESS: CZs Have a Scientific Hardness Rating of 8.5 On The Mohs' Scale. Diamonds Have a Rating Of 10. CARAT (WEIGHT): A CZ is About 75 Percent Heavier Than a Gemstone. COLOR: Beyond Classic Clear, CZs are Now Available in Many Fashion Colors, Such As Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Amethyst, Tanzanite, Aquamarine, Pink Diamond, and Golden Topaz to Name A Few. CUT: The Finest CZ is Machine Cut to Exacting Tolerances That Duplicates The Gemstone-Cutting Process. Like a Genuine Gemstone, CZs Can Be Chiseled Into A Variety of Fashion Shapes and Cuts. It Is The Oxide of the Metallic Element Zirconium. Zirconium Dioxide, Known as Baddeleyite, Is Found as a Naturally Occurring Mineral, But with a Different, Monoclinic, Crystalline Structure. To Induce it to Crystallise in the Cubic System, It Is "doped" With Small Additions of Other Minerals, Mainly Yttrium or Calcium. THE BEST GEMSTONE SIMULANT: Russian CZs Place As The Most Realistic Gemstone Simulant Ever Produced And Has Made It Into One of the Best Selling "gemstones". To Create a Ring or Other Article of Jewelry Which Looks Realistically Like Gemstones, It Is Necessary To Use Excellent Mountings, And To Have the Stones Properly Set, Rather Than Skimp On The Quality Of The Setting Work. If Russian CZs are Mounted in Real, High Quality Settings, Then They Are Impossible To Tell Apart From Genuine Gemstones Using The Naked, Untrained Eye, And Without Instruments. Possible--Class "A" Russian Formula Cubic Zirconia and Genuine Swarovski Austrian Crystal (Although A Few Of Our Jewelry Do Feature Natural Gemstones Rather Than Their Lab-Created Counterparts). CLEANING ALL TYPES OF JEWELRY: Brush Gently With A Soft Toothbrush To Remove Dirt and Grease. This is Recommended For ALL Types Of Jewelry Unless You Take To A Jeweler To Clean. You Can Use Jewelry Cleaning Solutions Found At Wal-Mart And Other Stores.... PLEASE Make Sure That You Read The Ingredients and They Don't Contain Chlorine! Chlorine Should Be Avoided For ALL Jewelry! WHAT EXACTLY ARE SWAROVSKI AUSTRIAN CRYSTALS? Austrian Crystals are formed in areas of slow cooling molten rock, and smaller crystals in areas of even more rapid cooling. Different elements exposed to the crystal during formation, such as chrome, affect coloring. The deposit is a hydrothermal vein in metamorphic rocks; the minerals of the vein crystallized from ions derived from the alteration of the rocks cut by the vein. Veins of this sort are called Alpine veins, because they were first discovered in the Alps, but they are found in other mountain ranges as well. Crystals are among the principal objects used to clear energy blockages. For more than 100 Years Austrian Crystals have been famous for their exceptional quality and clarity. Many Swarovski Crystal lovers believe that the raw material used in the manufacture of our crystal objects occurs naturally, like rock crystal from which contains spheres that have been carved since time immemorial. Swarovski Crystal is not a Natural Crystal but is Man Made. Swarovski Crystal is made at the factory in Wattens using basic formula perfected by Daniel Swarovski and his three sons in the earlier part of this century. Swarovski Crystal is fired using a combination of natural minerals and quartz sand, and then cooled slowly to avoid stress and inclusions. There is no comparison to the brilliance of Swarovski Crystals. TYPES OF CRYSTAL Strass Crystal Strass is manufactured in the Austrian Alps. It is machine-cut and polished to achieve perfect optical clarity, razor-sharp faceting and unique purity and brilliance. Lead content is in excess of 30 percent. An invisible coating makes Strass crystal easier to clean. To protect buyers from imitations, the Strass® logo is engraved in miniature inside each crystal. Venetian Crystal This crystal comes from the historic glass-making region around Venice, Italy. Venetian crystal is molded and fire-polished rather than cut, which results in subtle luminosity rather than fiery brilliance. Interior designers often prefer the antique look of Venetian crystal. The Venetians guarded their secrets of glassmaking with deadly seriousness, sending assassins after any artisan who escaped from Murano, Italy. Rock Crystal Rock crystal is a natural quartz prized by collectors since ancient times. Wondrous fissures and mists, a million years in the forming, make each crystal unique in the universe. The raw quartz is mined, not manufactured. It cannot be mass-produced. Skilled gem cutters grind, cut and polish each rock crystal by hand. Polishing one crystal to perfection might take a week. Swarovski Crystal In 1908 Daniel Swarovski, whose sons Wilhelm, Friedrich and Alfred had by now joined their father's company, began experimenting with the production of crystal. These experiments were conducted in a workshop specially constructed for the purpose, next to the family's villa in Wattens. In 1913 Swarovski began to produce its own crystal. This was an important milestone in the history of the company and it took mass production to a new level. They sold incredibly well to the Parisian fashion houses and jewelers. For this reason, Swarovski concentrated initially on the production of jewelry stones. Waterford Crystal Waterford Crystal started to blossom in 1783 when two brothers, George and William Penrose, founded their crystal manufacturing business in the busy port of Waterford, Ireland. Waterford Crystal today uses the same dedication to the purity of color, to the same design inspiration and to the same pursuit of highest quality levels possible. Waterford Crystal, today, is the Leading brand of Premium Crystal and In November 2000, Waterford Crystal was named as the Top World Crystal with the highest quality out of the 19 world class brands. OUR AUSTRIAN CRYSTALS When viewing our Austrian Crystal Items We Follow The European Standards when the lead content of a crystal is 30% or more, it is considered a full leaded crystal. What sets Our Austrian Crystals apart from Crystals from other Manufacturers for decades is Our Flawless Precision Cutting, Polishing and lead content of the crystals.