Just as the release of the movie Blood Diamond caused the press to briefly write about where some of the world's diamonds come from, an article in my local newspaper about a company headquartered nearby in Morrisville, NC, Charles & Colvard (Nasdaq, CTHR).

Charles & Colvard, purveyors of the revolutionary moissanite stones, garners a fair amount of media attention in the Raleigh, NC, area. Moissanite is a man-made diamond that some say looks as good as or better than the real thing.

While Blood Diamond temporarily brought attention to the fact that some diamonds are mined by forced childlabor to fund violence in wartorn countries, Charles & Colvard apparently have overlooked one of their biggest marketing advantages.

Jewelry stores can claim they know exactly where their diamonds come from and that they are not blood diamonds, but how can they really know? Charles & Colvard, however, know for absolute certain that their product isn't mined by child labor, or any other labor, in a wartorn country, or any country. Moissanite isn't mined - it's manufactured. You can buy it at Kohls, JCPenney, Zales, and the Home Shopping Network, among other retailers. It's much less expensive than a real diamond, of course. I have seen Charles & Colvard market their moissanite as a less expensive yet equally beautiful alternative to diamonds, but I've yet to see them talk about its origins compared to real diamonds.