Diamonds

The mere mention of a diamond inspires thoughts of luxury, love and beauty. But why? The answer is in a combination of the diamond’s natural characteristics, the expense of mining diamonds and mankind’s customs and legends involving diamonds.

Although diamonds are simple in composition-they’re made of carbon, just like pencil lead or charcoal-they are the hardest mineral on earth. They formed billions of years ago under great heat and pressure many miles below the earth’s surface. Volcanic eruptions have pushed diamonds closer to the earth’s surface. Mining diamonds can be incredibly expensive. The ratio of earth that must be processed to find a gemstone-quality diamond is 250,000,000 to one. Of all the diamonds mined, only twenty percent are gem quality. The rest are used for industrial purposes.

After being mined, diamonds must be cut and polished before they can be used in jewelry. To unlock a diamond’s hidden beauty a skilled cutter must correctly decide the final shape that will best fit the stone and then cut with incredible precision. Often 50 percent of the stone is lost during the cutting process. Even as far back as the ancient civilizations diamonds were believed to be symbols of good fortune and true love. The Greeks saw the light in the center of a diamond as the eternal flame of love. In the 15th century, European royalty started the custom of presenting their betrothed with a diamond ring to celebrate marriage, a ritual that has been carried on through western culture to the present.