Diamond... Stone of The Dreams
The diamond is the most precious of all stones. Its eye-catching glow instills distinction and nobility in its owner. The owner feels distinguished. This feeling is the diamond itself.
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Diamonds, which are the most choice of all precious stones, is also known for being the hardest and most durable of them all. Historic texts show that the diamond has been known since around 100 B.C.. Diamonds are a crystallized form of carbon. To put it another way, it is carbon in its pure form when crystallized. It was the early period of when the crust of the earth began to cool hundreds of million years ago. There were aggregates of very hot molten rock beneath the soil. The carbon, which melted as a result of the extreme heat became crystallized and took on the form of a diamond, shedding its dark Color and amorphous shape. Fundamentally speaking, there is no difference between diamonds and commonly found coal.
What makes diamonds valuable are their unique characteristics (crystallized form, hardness, etc.) and the fact that, compared to coal, they are found in much smaller quantities.
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Diamonds are separated into two groups. Namely, “precious stones” used in jewelry and “diamonds used in industry”. The unit of weight for diamonds is known as a “carat”, which is approximately equal to 200 milligrams.
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Real diamonds exude a light blue Color when held under sunlight. The diamonds used in industry, on the other hand are of a brownish hue or a lead-like Color.
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Where are diamonds mined?
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Diamonds are found in “diamond tunnels” that are found in the deep recesses of the earth. These depths vary greatly. It is therefore very difficult to mine them. Today, 95% of diamonds that are mined are excavated in the Belgian Congo in Africa, in addition to regions such as Angola, Tanganyika and Sierra Leone.
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There are followed by India and South America. It is known that diamond mines have been in existence in India since ancient times. The amount of diamonds excavated in India annually varies between 2000 and 4000 carats.
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The first instance of diamond mining began in India over 2800 years ago. Although many modern techniques are now employed, locating diamonds is still a grueling task. Geologists are currently searching for these most valuable stones everywhere, from the frozen tundras of Siberia and Canada, to the hot parched deserts of Africa all the way to the bottom of the ocean.
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In order to find a single diamond, an amount of sand enough to fill an entire house must be sieved. Of these, only a very small amount is of a size and quality to merit cutting and polishing and mounting onto jewelry. Diamond mining began in South America around the mid-18th century. Diamonds, as precious stones and in industry, are not used in the form in which they are found. Every stone that is excavated is cleaned, split into pieces and polished.
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Since diamonds are so hard, diamonds have to be used during the cutting process. Diamond cutters use a saw with a blade edge made of diamond dust. Today, 80% of diamond production is used in industry.
Facts about Diamonds
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Diamonds are extremely ancient. They formed during times that precede even the most prehistoric dinosaurs. The most recent diamond is 900 million years old, whereas the oldest is 3.2 billion years old.
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Diamonds are the hardest natural substance known to man. They are 58 times harder than any other element found on earth.
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Only another diamond can cut another diamond. .
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During the cutting and polishing process, each stone loses, on average, over half of its original weight.
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Less than 5% of brilliant diamonds that are made into jewelry are larger than one carat.
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Diamonds come in all Colors. The rarest of them all, however, is the red diamond.
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The Cullinan diamond, which is the largest known jewel diamond, was discovered in South Africa in 1905. Before being cut, it weight 3.106 carats (Approximately the size of an ostrich egg).
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The diamond that has fetched the most at a diamond auction was a purplish red diamond that weighed in at 0.95 carats. This was sold for 1 million dollars.
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If the shavings of all the diamonds cut since the beginning of time were to be collected, they would only manage to fill a double-decker bus.
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The word “diamond” in English is derived from the Greek word “Adamas”, meaning “unconquerable”.
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The word “carat” is derived from the “carob” seed, which was used in ancient times as a unit of measurement to weigh precious stones.
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The tradition of gifting diamond rings began when, in the 15th century, the archduke Maximillian presented the Duchess of Burgonia, Mary, with a diamond ring during his engagement. Additionally, the tradition of placing the ring around the fourth finger is thought to have originated from the ancient Egyptian belief that this finger held the “vena amoris” (the love artery) that extended toward the heart.
How They are cut?
The art of cutting diamonds is a very precise job that requires imagination, patience and skill.
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In olden days, diamonds were left without being cut. They were placed into the recess of mountings and only the soft glow of their upper side would be on display, and they appeared dark and mysterious. With the advent of the 14th century, craftsman began to look for complex cutting and polishing techniques to unleash the glow of diamonds. There techniques are still being developed to this day with new ones being discovered all the time.
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Today, the craftsman’s traditional role has been taken over by advanced computers