Facts About Diamonds

Discover the scientific facts about diamonds and a description of incredible diamond jewelry that's stood the test of time.

Let the curtain rise, with the Diamond Bracelet with royal connections to the Cartier Lion King, Edward VIII of England, who showered Wallis, Duchess of Windsor with money and jewels, including the scintillating Cartier Diamond Bracelet. Wallis Simpson wore this exact Cartier Diamond Charm Bracelet on her wedding day, at the Château de Candé on 3 June 1937.

Wallis Diamond Charm Bracelet

Diamond-encrusted Cartier Charm Bracelet from the Duchess of Windsor’s collection, including a cross commemorating her appendectomy yes, you read that right. Photograph: Nils Jorgensen / Rex Features

Amazing Facts about Diamonds

Diamonds are a girl's best friend - right? Wrong. Not every diamond. Not this colored diamond anyway! Read the fascinating story about the hopeless Hope Diamond Here.
Facts about diamonds, in South African history, say the 'Rocks of the Rajahs' known as "Pretty Pebbles" by the children of farmers Nicholas and Diederik De Beers, who discovered the diamonds, in the sandy bed of the Vaal River, the largest tributary of the Orange River in South Africa.
Further, facts about diamonds say, that by the end of 1870, there was a diamond rush in S.A and by the end of 1871 two well-defined areas were recognized as the source areas, or "pipes", for the diamonds.
In 1872 in S.A. the pipes were giant open quarries worked by 2500 miners and 10,000 hired laborers.
In the far north of W.A. in Australia, the British company Rio Tinto holds 60% of a large diamond field called Argyle.
The Argyle field is now the single largest diamond mine in the world, producing 34 million carats of Argyle diamonds a year! Among its vast production, there is a small quantity of Argyle Pink Diamonds.
The origin of the word "Diamond" comes from the word "Adamus" which is the Greek word for "invincible."
If you are looking for a Diamond Carat Size Chart, the best one I've found is available in the Jewelry Resources.
The famous Orloff Diamond weighs a whopping 189.62 carats! Being the Second Largest Diamond on display in the World, it now resides within Kremlin Armoury in Russia.
Diamonds were first discovered in India in 800 BC.
Some exquisite pieces of Jewelry from India are extremely valuable and the antique diamonds that originate from India that they contain are one of the reasons.
The geographical facts about diamonds state, that the largest number of gem-quality stones are produced in South Africa (about 49 percent). Canada, India, Russia, Brazil, and Australia are also significant sources.
Another of the facts about diamonds is that diamonds are the most enduring of all of earth's gems and the hardest, naturally occurring substance known to man.
In the List of Gemstones, diamond is ranked 10 on the Mohs scale of hardness.
Nothing has comparable longevity as diamonds, often passed from one generation to the next.
Even acid cannot dissolve a diamond. A diamond is forever - literally! It's one of the most astounding facts about diamonds.
Found approximately 100 miles below the surface of the earth, the required heat and pressure required to form a diamond is 1300 degrees C and 50,000 times normal atmospheric pressure.
Only just 25 carats of diamonds can be expected from 100 tonnes of mined earth and of this, only 5 carats will be of gem quality.
A diamond is a transparent crystal of a tetrahedron crystal of bonded carbon atoms. One of the outstanding physical characteristics of a diamond is its extreme hardness and its high dispersion index and high thermal conductivity.
The diamond gemstone is commonly judged by the Four Cs: Carat, Clarity, Color, and Cut.
Freshly mined diamonds are a girl's best friend, but they're a guerrilla's best friend too. The break-up of the Soviet Union and civil wars in Africa flooded the market with illicit diamonds. Millions of smuggled blood diamonds fuelled civil war in Angola and Zaire and the disintegration of the USSR opened the floodgates to a torrent of diamonds from there too.
The meltdown in the tiger economies of the Far East suppressed diamond demand and 1996 saw the Australian Argyle mine, the biggest in terms of quantity, leave the De Beers cartel.
The physical properties and clarity of Moissanite Diamonds are so close to a natural diamond gemstone, that most diamond testers, used in the jewelry industry to distinguish lab-created diamonds, will nearly always misidentify moissanite as a diamond.
The Duchess of Cornwall's diamond engagement ring belonged to the Queen Mother. I adore looking at this Diamond ring...
No woman wore diamond jewelry so spectacularly as Elizabeth Taylor, an avid Jewelry Collector. Adored by her husband Richard Burton, he showered Elizabeth with diamonds for every occasion. He gave her the famous Asscher cut Krupp diamond in 1968. For Taylor's 40th birthday, Burton gave her another famous diamond, a heart-shaped spectacle, known as the Taj Mahal. He has been quoted as saying - "I would have loved to give her the Taj Mahal but it would have cost too much to transport." Burton was not done yet. He purchased the famous 69.42 pear-shaped carat diamond, now known as the Taylor-Burton diamond.
Facts about diamonds and facts about Cultured Pearls share a common denominator - Clever Marketing!
In the 19th century (1870), diamonds rose to the height of popularity. An increase in supply, cutting and polishing techniques, a world economy that was flourishing and a formidable publicity campaign, masterminded by the South African owners of De Beers, took diamonds out of the realm of dreams and the domain of the very wealthy, and a dream come true for nearly every starry-eyed bride.
Mr. Mikimoto did a similar thing but with pearls. Not only did Mikomoto stamp his name onto Mikimoto pearls but Mikimoto's formidable marketing campaign made pearls an accessible gem for the common people. Cultured pearls were viewed as desirable pearls and an affordable alternative to Rare Natural Pearls.
15 more amazing facts about diamonds

References:

McLean, G., The Scotsman, 'Diamonds Rocks of Ages', June 1st, 2000.

http://mygeologypage.ucdavis.edu/cowen/~gel115/115CH15diamonds.html

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