Rutile has a very high refractive index, a strong dispersion, and an adamantine luster. These are optical properties that can produce a great gemstone, and these properties in rutile rival or exceed those of diamond. Unfortunately, natural rutile rarely has the clarity and color needed to serve as an alternative gem for diamond.

However, synthetic rutile can be made nearly colorless with excellent clarity. When it was first produced in the 1940s and 1950s, it was cut into gems and sold as a diamond simulant named “Titania”. It attained a bit of early popularity, but that began to fade once buyers discovered that synthetic rutile suffered from abrasion injuries in just a short time – rutile has a Mohs hardness of 6 compared to diamond’s hardness of 10.