About Diamonds

The ancient Greeks believed that diamonds were splinters of stars fallen to the earth. It was even said by some that diamonds were the tears of the gods. Another legend has it that there was an inaccessible valley in Central Asia carpeted with diamonds. It was said to be ’patrolled by birds of prey in the air and guarded by snakes of murderous gaze on the ground’. The truth is, however, that the exact origin of diamonds is still something of a mystery, even to scientists and geologists. 

 Even though the diamond is the hardest of all gemstones known to man, it is the simplest in composition. It is common carbon, like the graphite in a lead pencil, yet has a melting point of 6,900 degrees Fahrenheit, which is two and a half times greater than the melting point of steel. Thousands of years ago the elemental forces of heat and pressure miraculously transformed the carbon into diamond in the cauldron of boiling magma that lay deep below the surface of the earth. The volcanic mass in which this crystallisation took place, the thrust upwards and broke through earth’s surface to cool in Kimberlite pipes. It is in these Kimberlite pipes that most diamonds are found today.
 

It is said that diamonds are a girl’s best friend. 19th Century Texan tycoon, Ned Green, believed that diamonds were best friends to guys as well - he owned a diamond studded chamber pot!
 

Jim Brady, was a flamboyant millionaire who made his fortune in the 1880’s by selling steel railway trucks to the expanding United States Railways. But is was his love of gems that made him a celebrity and earned him world-wide fame as ‘Diamond Jim’. At 40 he had a different set of diamonds to wear for every day of the month. Each set consisted of a ring, tie pin, studs, waist coat buttons, watch chain, belt buckle, wallet clasp, and spectacle case. When Jim went out to town he was the most glittering site in all of America ! His ‘Transportation set’ depicted transport of every type. The ring was a miniature engine wheel, the tie pin was a camel, the cufflinks were railway trucks, a pocket pencil was shaped like a steamship, the spectacle case was shaped like a locomotive, the waistcoat buttons were aeroplanes, and the watch chain had a donkey on it. The entire set was fashioned in gold and studded with 2,600 diamonds.
 

The ill fated Titanic had 11 millionaires on board when she sank on her maiden voyage in April 1912. It is estimated that the cargo of diamonds that disappeared beneath the waves was worth 7 million English pounds. Today it would be worth over 150 million pounds!
 

Napoleon Bonaparte bought a 34 carat diamond - known as the ‘Napoleon diamond’ - to wear on the hilt of his sword on the occasion of his marriage to Josephine. Later, he frequently wore the diamond for good luck. It is popularly thought that he lost it at Waterloo, for it was never seen again after the battle.