About Diamonds - April's Birthstone
It is a new month which means a new birthstone, and it’s a good one!
April babies are very lucky to have diamonds as their birthstone. Symbolically diamonds are said to represent steadfast love, clarity and strength. However, this gemstone has a lot more to it than just that.
Diamond is a mineral made up of pure carbon and is the hardest naturally occurring substance, this means that the only way to cut diamonds is with a tool made from another diamond – mental! Natural diamonds form deep in the earth under huge pressure and heat. They are then violently forced upwards until they come up to the earth’s surface.
Historically, diamonds have been the most popular and sought after gemstone and remain to be a global fixation in the 21st century. The initial love for diamond’s is said to have started in India with historians tracing back the trade of diamonds to the fourth century BC.
Later, Diamonds were found in Brazil by gold miners in rivers and streams. After this discovery Brazil became an important source for Diamonds and as a result dominated the market for over 150 years. However, the modern diamond market really kicked off in 1866 when diamonds were discovered in Kimberley, South Africa.
Nowadays, Diamonds are sourced from all over the world and are now commonly lab grown. Lab-grown diamonds are formed in a lab using the same extreme forces as earth created diamonds, huge pressure and heat. This therefore means that there are zero differences between lab grown diamonds and earth made.
One of the reasons diamonds are so popular is how versatile they are and how much variety there is out there. For example, some of the rarest diamonds include coloured diamonds; yellow, pink, red, blue, orange and green. There is also a simple yet technical way of understanding the type and value of diamond – The four C’s. They stand for: Colour, Clarity, Cut and Carat.
Firstly, A Diamond's colour is graded against a scale from D-Z, with D being the most colourless and Z the most coloured.
Secondly, the clarity of the diamond is how clear the stone is. For example, does the stone have any cloudiness or imperfections. Ideally a diamond should be bright and fully transparent.
Additionally, the third C stands for Cut and this ultimately how the facets are created and how diamonds have their unique sparkle. The quality of the cut correlates to the successfully way that a diamond refracts light.
The final C stands for Carat. The carat of a diamond refers to the weight of the stone. Most commonly, the diamond’s price increases with the diamond carat weight as larger diamonds are often harder to source and are therefore more desirable.
While writing this blog we also spoke to some of our jewellery makers to see if they had any fun facts about diamonds... here are the best ones!
1. Approximately 35% of diamonds are florescence and therefore under UV light they glow!
2. Pale blue diamonds are one of the rarest diamonds ever!
3. Radiant cut diamonds have the most sparkle
4. The world’s biggest Diamond, the Cullinan Diamond, was discovered in 1905 in a South African mine called the premier mine. It's HUGE, weighing 3,206 carats.
