Just like the humans’ kingdoms change hands and new kings arise, the gemstone kingdom has had several gem representatives that were ruling the market throughout the years. However, there was one gemstone that never and nowhere lost its power; the diamond. Diamonds, a sole gemstone species, is studied, valued, graded, marketed and adored separately while the colored stones “group” includes hundreds of gemstones; each one carrying its own unique characteristics, still grouped together.
Diamonds have been treasured by humans for millennia. People have attributed magical powers to them, and for long periods only the royals were allowed to own one. There were other periods when different colors of diamonds would be assigned to different social classes; for example, the colorless ones were for the ruling social classes, the brown ones for the priests, etc. Diamonds were first discovered in India during the 4th century BC. Later, and just when the Indian production started to decline, diamonds were discovered in Brazil that ruled the market for more than 150 years. However, it’s the diamond discoveries in the African continent,around 1866, that gave start to the modern diamond market. Today, Africa still remains a major diamond source, together with Australia, Canada and Russia.
The name diamond finds its roots in the Greek language and derives from the word αδάμαστος, (adamastos – adamas – diamond)which means unconquerable, indomitable, untamable. And it is notaccidental that such an important name was given to this particular gemstone. People have tried to “dominate” the diamonds for many years with little or no success. In fact, while trying to shape the rough diamonds to new forms, the crystals would resist and often destroy the primitive polishing instruments. Partly because of this never-seen-before hardness, magical powers were attributed to the diamond crystals and many people considered them to be god-sent,so humans should not dare to try and change their aspect. This was especially true for the perfectly shaped octahedral crystals which–still today- represent the most valuable rough diamond shape.
Diamonds are unique also in terms of their chemical composition, as they are the only gem mineral composed primarily of one chemical element only, Carbon. All other gemstones are made of combinations of various chemical elements. It was in 1796 when Smithson Tennant has communicated his study considering diamond’s combustion to the British Royal Society. In fact, he insisted that since burning equal amounts of diamond and charcoal result in the same byproduct (carbon dioxide gas) the two should have the same chemical composition. Although other scientists had performed similar experiments before Tennant, nobody wanted to admit this fact.
So what is it that makes the diamonds so different than the carbon we use every day in the form of graphite (in our pencil’s lead, as a lubricant, etc.)? The answer to this questions lies deep inside our planet..Diamonds are carbon that has undergone and survived immense stress. They form inside the Earth under conditions of extreme heat and pressure that forces the carbon atoms to bond very tightly and very strongly and eventually grow into this marvelous crystal. These conditions that favor diamond formation are found under the continental crust’smost ancient and stable portions, at a depth of approximately 190km from the earth’s surface, at about 1000oC temperature and some 50.000 times the surface’s pressure. And of course, a constant supply of carbon is essential. And then, slowly, very slowly, carbon atom after carbon atom, the miracle happens..And waits..
..Waits for a violent gas and ash and solid rock eruption that would possibly bring the already formed diamond crystals closer to us, until we discover the place where they’ve been hiding and mine them. But no human still alive has ever witnessed such an eruption as it is calculated that the most recent one has happened around 20 million years ago.
When the diamonds that we use today were forming, the Earth was a very different place. Now extinct creatures were living on it and the nature and continents had a different aspect. It is calculated that the oldest diamond we have found is more than 3 billion years old, that is, much older than its host rocks.
We use diamonds to crown the most important events of our lives, we regard them as symbols of our deepest and most sincere sentiments, and we treasure them as our legacy for the next generations. Realizing the fact that we are wearing such an antique and unique item may change the way we see the gemstones, the jewelry and the diamonds as well. They are not only sparkling and expensive, this is just their newest aspect, the one of the man-controlled market, technology and skills; diamonds are gifted with a wild untamable beauty, and they are hard, antique and fierce. And we’d better treat them and the Earth that gives birth to them with sensitive and sensible respect.
This article was first published at the Jewellery Historian Magazine – Issue 6
