type public traded as nasdaq cthr industry gemstone manufacturer jewelry founded 1995 founder charles eric hunter headquarters morrisville north carolina united states key people suzanne t. miglucci ceo 1 neal ira goldman chairman 1 kyle s. macemore cfo 1 steven m. larkin cro 2 products moissanite revenue 30.8 million 3 number of employees 82 1 website www.charlesandcolvard.com charles & colvard ltd. a publicly traded company nasdaq cthr is the creator and manufacturer of gem quality lab grown moissanite . moissanite also known as silicon carbide a crystalline compound with the chemical formula sic . in 1905 this form of silicon carbide was given the name moissanite in honor of its discoverer 4 nobel prize winning chemist dr. henri moissan . the tiny particles he unearthed at the site of a massive meteorite strike in arizona were initially mistaken for diamond due to their hardness and brilliant reflectiveness but after intense testing were identified as naturally occurring silicon carbide . charles & colvard formerly known as c3 inc. 5 received patents in march and june 1998 for the manufacture of synthetic silicon carbide gemstones u.s. patent numbers us5723391 6 and us5762896 7 and became the first company in the world to cut and market gemstones made from lab grown sic . 8 these patents expired in the u.s. in 2015 but remain in effect for one more year in europe and asia and until 2021 in mexico . the successful manufacture of silicon carbide crystals is a by product of work by cree inc. formerly cree research inc. a pioneer in the use of silicon carbide in electronic applications 9 such as light emitting diodes leds and in semiconductor electronic devices that operate at high temperatures or high voltages or both . in the late 1980s after cree inc. isolated the process to grow pure sic crystals in a lab cree inc. co founder c. eric hunter recognized the consumer potential for this crystal as a gemstone and established a new and separate company under the name c3 inc. c3 was run by his brother jeff hunter until 2000 during which time the company changed its name to charles & colvard ltd. 10 the company maintains an exclusive agreement with cree inc. as its sole supplier of high grade silicon carbide materials . charles & colvard was launched with just one grade of moissanite now known as forever classic moissanite . meanwhile as consumer demand for gemstones changed over time cree continued to refine the manufacturing process they had pioneered developing increasingly whiter and brighter silicon carbide materials for use by charles & colvard . in 2012 charles & colvard introduced forever brilliant a near colorless gem . that was followed in 2015 with the release of forever one the first colorless moissanite which is rated at d e f on the gemological institute of america color scale . charles & colvard now markets an extensive line of fine jewelry through national retailers such as boscov s and globally through wholesalers . charles & colvard is based in the piedmont area of north carolina in research triangle park rtp . charles & colvard employs 70 people full time generating revenue that totaled 30.8 million during the year ending december 31 2015 . 3 references edit a b c d cthr key statistics . marketwatch . marketwatch . retrieved 5 may 2016 . steven m larkin . retrieved 2016 04 01 . a b charles & colvard q4 2015 sales 16 % . idex online . idex . retrieved 14 march 2016 . kunz george frederick 1905 . moissanite a natural silicon carbide . american journal of science . 19 396 397 . access date requires url help tenth amendment to agreement . sec.gov . securities & exchange commission . retrieved 9 january 2016 . us 5723391 silicon carbide gemstones hunter charles eric and verbiest dirk 1995 08 31 u.s. patent 5 762 896 single crystal gems hardness refractive index polishing and crystallization o donoghue michael 2006 . gems their sources descriptions and identification . butterworth heinemann . p. 90 . isbn 978 0 7506 5856 0 . history & milestones . cree.com . cree . retrieved 2015 09 14 . a special thanks company history . greater charlotte biz . greater charlotte biz . retrieved 9 january 2016 . external links edit official website this united states corporation or company article is a stub . you can help wikipedia by expanding it . v t e retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title charles % 26 colvard & oldid 729870339 categories companies based in north carolinacompanies established in 1995companies listed on nasdaqunited states company stubshidden categories pages using citations with accessdate and no urlall stub articles navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links 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