A Diamond In The Rough

The diamond is an emblem of romance and an everlasting asset to its beholder. A diamond is a native crystalline carbon, which is the hardest known mineral to mankind, which is nearly colorless.

When a diamond is transparent and free from flaws it is highly valued as a precious stone, and is used industrially especially as an abrasive, but also as a piece of substance. It is just an allotrope of a common chemical agent, but ever since Emperor Maximilian gave Mary of Burgundy a diamond betrothal ring in 1477, nothing has glittered like the king of gems. The shine is due to the mineral's refractive power, but Mary probably did not think a lot about that when she showed off her rock at the bridal shower.
The emperor revolutionized the business of getting engaged, setting off a trend that is responsible for much of a thirty-seven billion dollar industry. Credit must also be given to the famous and persistent A Diamond Is Forever marketing campaign invented in 1947 by De Beers, the international diamond conglomerate that recently settled a class-action lawsuit accusing it of monopolizing supplies and fixing prices.

Many diamonds vie for the title of most famous, including the forty-five point fifty-two-carat Hope, which resides at the Smithsonian Institution, the sixty-nine point forty-two-carat Taylor-Burton, which is a pear-shaped rock from Cartier that Richard Burton gave Elizabeth Taylor; and the enormous Cullinan, which is over three thousand carats when it was discovered in South Africa in 1905. The Cullinan was cut into nine sizable stones, including the Star of Africa, which is a manageable five hundred fifty point two carats and is mounted in the British Royal Scepter and on display in the Tower of London.

Whatever its size, each diamond is completely unique in its own way and each seems to be uniquely valued. Consider a survey conducted by the consulting group NPD, which showed sixty-three thousand people a pair of three-carat diamond stud earrings and asked what they were worth. They were informed that they were from a Wal-Mart store, automatically the participants fixed the value at ninety-three dollars. Later the same diamond was presented to them, but when they were informed that they actually came from Tiffany's, the value swelled suddenly to over eight hundred dollars.

The anatomy of a diamond should consist of four Cs, because more than fifty years ago, the Carlsbad, California-based Gemological Institute of America developed the International Grading System for diamonds. The four Cs stood for the color, clarity, cut, and carat weight of a diamond. The cut of a diamond is its shape, proportion, symmetry, and polish, which are also known as its make. If a diamond has a good make, then it will be brilliant, fiery, and have scintillation, which means it creates a sense of movement and looks alive.

A truly colorless diamond is rare and those with the least color are the most expensive. Diamonds within the normal color range, usually have hints of yellow or brown, but a diamond with fine color has little or no color that you can see. Some have rare fancy colors such as blue and pink, which are extremely expensive.

The vast majority of diamonds are not perfectly clear, because they have internal and surface irregularities, which are called inclusions and blemishes. Grades of a diamond range from flawless to included. In weight, some diamonds are magic sizes, which means a half-carat, a carat, and so on. There is only a sliver of a difference between a full carat gem and one that weighs in at point ninety-nine carat, but the price can vary significantly.

By : Victor Epand