The diamond

The diamond is the most significant precious stone, thanks to its physical and chemical accomplishments. This is the hardest mineral in the world, its transparency and light is perfect, with the highest level of refraction and chromatic dispersion. This is the only precious stone that makes up of only one element: the diamond is solely composed of carbon atoms. Because of its incredible hardness, its industrial use is also very wide.In the Ancient Greek language this mineral was known as adamasz, meaning unbreakable. In the Latin language it appears in the same form, adamas.  In the modern Greek language we already find the word diamándi.

The size of the diamonds is varying, most of them does not reach even the one carat size, few carat stones are common, above 20 carat are very rare, diamonds over 100 carat are highly exceptional.

The colour of diamonds

A diamond can appear in colourless, yellow, green, brown, red, pink grey blue and black. Colour has a great effect on the value of the diamond. The clearest ones are mined in India, while the most colourful ones come from South-Africa. The different colours are caused by inclusions that form during the crystallizing procedure of the diamond. Every anomaly that can be seen under tenfold magnification is called inclusion, which reduces the quality of the precious stones as they decreases transparency and can have an effect on the colour, as well. The effect of depreciation depends on the localization, size and intensity of the inclusion. Sometimes we can find diamond inclusions in the diamond itself.

The natural form of diamond needs very special conditions. It has to be high pressure (4500 – 6000 MPS) with the temperature of 900 – 1300 °C degrees.

Materials containing diamonds are coming up to the surface from volcanos with geol magma centre of 150 kms deep. The material sprung from the abysm is breaking through the Earth’s crust, forming chimney-like conduits. Diamonds can be found in these filling-in materials of the conduits.  

Bloody Diamonds

In African countries with instable political system, it has happened often that rebel groups were taking over diamond fields and from the income of the diamond exploitation they were financing their own warfare costs, these are the bloody diamonds. With having signed the Kimberley Process by the UN, the representatives of the diamond industry and of the diamond exploiting countries, they wished to end this phenomenon. The goal of the agreement is to review the origin of the diamonds and hinder armed conflicts being financed from the income of selling diamonds.

De Beers 

De Beers is the greatest diamond producer company in the world. Rough diamonds sold through them are delivered to grinding shops, where they are polished to diamonds. Afterwards the diamonds go to the diamond exchanges, located in 26 different countries in the world. In these placed retailers are buying them, where they take the diamonds into jewel factories. The stones are put into settings and then they offer them to the clients.  

The value of the diamond

The value depends on the quality, size, colour and clarity, in addition the quality of the polishing. Besides the mentioned elements the price of the diamond is affected by other factors, as well – especially the demand and the supply.

The exact value of the diamond is determined by the 4c:

·         Colour

·         Clarity

·         Carat

·         Cut

Polishing of the diamond

No doubt, diamond polishing is the most mysterious jobs in the world. In the grinding shops - stones with the value of several million dollars - are split into pieces, before polishing them to the shape, counted with mathematical accuracy, into jewel diamonds.  

Diamond polishing is an art, as it brings the brightness hidden in the stone to life. Or we can also call it science as inconceivable precision and exact mathematical calculation is needed to transform a rough diamond into a highly valuable, jewel diamond.

In a rough diamond the brute force, the brilliance and the fire is presented but it can only be allured out with the appropriate polishing.

The most frequent shapes

Precious stones are grinded usually with one of the following methods: shaping one contiguous, arched surface (cabochon) or they cut plane plates (facets).  The most popular cuts are: brilliant (round), emerald cut (swipe cornered rectangle), princess (square), oval, marquise, navette (pointed oval), pear and heart.

The brilliant cut

The light-reflecting and refracting characteristics of the diamond prevail best in the brilliant cut. The classical brilliant shape makes up of the crown part on the top, the pavilion part on the bottom and the girdle connecting the two.   

The crown with the frustum of cone and flatter side is about one third of the diamond; the conical, steep sided pavilion is two-third of it. The total number of the facets is 58, from which 33 belongs to the crown and 25 to the pavilion. The girdle part is sometimes polished plain, in some cases they form facets on it, as well, but the compulsory 58 facets do not include them.

Fancy cut

Diamonds with different cut from brilliant are called in English ’fancy’. These can have any kind of shape, the number of facets is not determined. Nowadays diamonds of butterfly or star shape can also be made, thanks to the computerized design techniques.