Moissanite was discovered in the late 18th century. Raw moissanite deposits were discovered in a meteor crater, and it has remained a somewhat rare gemstone since then due to its rarity in nature. However, because it is easily created in a lab, the lack of natural moissanite on the gemstone market is complemented with lab developed moissanite which is physically and molecularly identical to a moissanite gem found in the earth.