The marquise is the most dramatic brilliant cut there is, and its two long, thin points are its weakness. Those points catch in transit, knock against neighboring stones in a parcel, and chip during setting. A wholesale buyer who treats a marquise like a round brilliant—grading it only for color and clarity—will run into avoidable returns. The skill is knowing which tip damage disappears under a setting and which makes a stone a reject before it ever reaches a client.
Why the points fail
A marquise concentrates a lot of length into a narrow outline. At each end, the pavilion facets taper to a thin, exposed ridge. Even though moissanite scores 9.25 on the Mohs scale and handles everyday wear well, that does not make it shatterproof; a sharp impact on a thin point can nick or feather it, the same way any faceted material with a sharp edge can. High refractive index (about 2.65) means the stone returns plenty of light, but it also means a tiny white nick on a tip catches the eye immediately because the rest of the stone is so bright. A chip that would be forgettable in a dull stone becomes the first thing anyone notices in a brilliant marquise.
Grading the chip on arrival
When a marquise parcel arrives, inspect both points under a 10x loupe and sort each stone into one of three buckets. This takes a few minutes per stone and saves hours of reset work and returned sales later.
- Clean: no visible nick under 10x. Your fine-jewelry stock, full price.
- Micro-nick: a tiny surface catch hidden where a V-prong, bezel tip or bead will cover it. Acceptable if the setting you use actually covers that spot; price it slightly down if needed.
- Visible feather or bruise: a chip or crack that reaches the girdle or shows face-up. Reject and open a return, regardless of how good the rest of the stone looks.
Be strict about the third bucket. A feather at a tip can travel when the stone is heated or set, and a "small" crack that is visible face-up is a warranty claim waiting to happen. It is almost always cheaper to reject it now than to replace it after it has been sold.
Pair the stone with a setting that protects it
The smart wholesale move is to plan the setting before you accept the stone. A marquise set in a bezel or with tipped V-prongs—prongs that curl over the point—turns a borderline micro-nick into a non-issue. An unprotected prong setting leaves the point in the open and magnifies every flaw. When you photograph a marquise for your catalog, show the protected setting so clients understand why the point is covered. We cover the setting side in marquise moissanite setting protection.
Packaging is part of QC
Most tip damage happens before the stone ever reaches your bench. Loose marquises rattling in a shared bag chip each other's points. Ask your supplier to pack marquises points-out in a rigid, separated tray, with each stone held away from its neighbors. If a parcel arrives loose in a bag, inspect the tips twice as carefully and do not hesitate to flag the damage—it is a packaging failure, not a grading dispute.
Build reorder logic around tips
Pricing imperfect stones honestly
A micro-nick stone is not a reject, but it should not carry a fine-jewelry price tag. Grade it into a fashion tier, pair it with a protective bezel, and price it for the buyer who wants the dramatic silhouette at a softer price. This turns a stone you might otherwise write off into a margin product. Be transparent in the listing that the setting covers the point; clients respect that honesty, and it prevents a return when they look closely. The goal is never to hide a flaw, it is to route each stone to the setting and price tier where the flaw does not matter.
If your marquise return rate is running high, the fix is usually upstream: pre-inspected, rigid-packed stones arrive cleaner. Budget for a small acceptance discount on parcels that cannot be pre-inspected. And know your return path; our moissanite return and exchange policy guide walks through what to claim and how to frame it. The point of accepting imperfect stones is not to lower quality, it is to match each stone to the right price tier and setting so nothing gets wasted. Buyers who standardize on tip-protected settings and rigid packing find their marquise line becomes one of the lowest-frill, highest-margin shapes they carry, because the dramatic silhouette sells itself without heavy marketing. Marquise buyers who inspect points on arrival, demand rigid packing, and pair every stone with a protecting setting cut their rework dramatically. The shape sells itself; the QC just has to keep up.