Diamond is the most valuable and sought after jewel on Earth. It symbolizes love, eternity, togetherness and marriage; despite the fact that the diamond came into use far later than most gemstones. The reason for this is its hardness; people simply couldn’t cut diamonds until the fifteenth century, when someone discovered that one diamond could scratch another.
One fact should be clarified, diamonds are indeed the hardest substance known, but they are not indestructible. A diamond is hard, not tough. Hardness refers to how easily something can be scratched - you can only scratch a diamond with another diamond, nothing else. Toughness, on the other hand, refers to how resilient something would be if you, say, smashed it with a sledgehammer. Trying this would quickly result in diamond dust
Prior to the advent of cut diamonds, most diamonds were alluvial, or occurring in riverbeds. Until other mines were found, almost all of these small diamonds came from riverbeds in India. Diamonds were also rarely used in jewelry; rather, they were carried around as talismans for luck, strength and protection from poison. In fact, the word diamond comes from the Greek word “adamas,” meaning strength. Men traditionally carried diamonds because of this association, but it wasn’t until 1477 that diamonds became a girl’s best friend.
|
It was that year that Archduke Maximillian of Hamburg gave a diamond engagement ring to Mary of Burgundy, the first such recorded occurrence which led to the modern diamond engagement ring tradition. Although the Archduke gave his bride a diamond engagement ring, it can’t be certain that it hadn’t happened before. Ever since, diamonds have been used in jewelry with varying popularity through the centuries. The only other time in history when diamonds enjoyed popularity close to today’s was during the Victorian Era in the 19th Century.
|
Diamond Solitaires
|
This fluctuation in popularity was partly due to the difficulty of cutting the stones, but more in part to the scarcity of large stones, because by this time the alluvial sources in India were nearing exhaustion. The diamond’s modern reign began around 1870, when a new mine was discovered in South Africa. DeBeers Consolidated Mines, Inc. formed shortly after, in 1888, in order to regain control of the world diamond market and protect the assets of investors.
Now that DeBeers controlled diamond supply, they had to bolster demand. Enter Harry Oppenheimer, son of the DeBeers founder, who teamed up with advertising mogul Gerold M. Lauck of N.W. Ayer in 1939 to start a new advertising campaign. This campaign established the engagement ring’s importance and the diamond as the ONLY option for engagement rings, thus cementing the diamond’s domination of the jewelry industry only some 60 years ago!
The diamond’s history notwithstanding, right now diamonds are the modern symbol of eternity, love and togetherness. Most diamonds are colorless, but in rare instances can be found in any color of the rainbow. These colors are called fancy colors and can range from yellows, red, blues, greens, browns and even black! Fancy colored diamonds are very scarce and for more valuable than their more popular and common counterparts. Before shopping for a diamond, please make sure you know your 4C’s and get a free diamond seminar from the good folks here at Skatell’s Manufacturing Jewelers.
|
|
|
|
