Diamond Articles Index

To read any of our articles on diamonds, gems, jewelry or industrial uses of diamonds, use the links in this handy index to jump to an article...

• How Diamonds Are Made
  Diamonds were first created around 2.5 billion years ago, and the most recently created diamonds are believed to be 45 million years old. Here's how nature turns carbon into diamonds...
  
  
• Diamonds - A Brief History of Jewelry
  Today's diamond jewelry has evolved from ancient adornments of bone and rock - here we present a brief history of jewelry, from those early amulets to today's diamond wedding rings.
  
  
• Diamonds and Other Precious Gems
  The appeal of diamonds and other precious gems has endured for eons. They confer on the wearer a feeling of beauty, value, status. We are drawn to diamonds and we all have our personal favorites.
  
  
• Where Diamonds are Mined
  Diamonds are mined in Canada, South Africa and Australia. Few countries have diamond mines, and control of them is held by just a hand full of diamond mining companies. Here's where the big mines are.
  
  
• Diamonds - Color of Gems
  Diamonds are rated by how colorless they are. All colored gems depend on expert cutting and polishing to showcase the colors in all their subtleties and brilliance.
  
  
• Diamonds - Grading Diamonds
  Diamonds are graded or valued based upon three criteria. Those three are the caret (karat) or weight of the stone, its clarity, and its color.
  
  
• Diamonds - Diamond Durability
  Diamonds are among the hardest substances on earth. Other gemstones are hard, but not nearly as hard as a diamond. Diamonds and other gemstones are measured by the Mohs scale.
  
  
• Diamonds - Heat Conduction
  Diamonds are good electrical insulators. Diamonds appear cold and hard, but they're good conductors of heat because of the strong chemical bonds within the crystal.
  
  
• Diamonds - Synthetic Diamonds
  A synthetic diamond is basically a rock that has the durability, refractive index and hardness of a natural diamond. it seems that synthetic diamonds are rarer than natural diamonds!
  
  
• Industrial Diamonds
  Industrial use of diamonds has historically been associated with their hardness; this property makes diamond the ideal material for cutting and grinding tools.
  
  
• Diamonds - Buying Loose Diamonds
  When shopping for loose diamonds it‘s worth it to go with a reputable source. It's always best to research where to buy loose diamonds.
  
  
• Diamonds - Couples Diamonds
  The smart groom does his research before buying his fiancée a diamond ring! It's not enough to be educated about the four Cs of diamonds - cut, color, clarity and carats.
  
  
• Diamonds - Antique Engagement Rings
  Diamonds in antique engagement rings were all cut by hand. They are more beautiful and unique than todays rings can ever hope to be. Today diamonds are cut with lasers.
  
  
• Diamonds - Diamond Cutting Styles
  The most popular cut for diamonds today is still the round, brilliant cut. For more fancy diamond cuts there are the princess cut, trillions, ovals, marquise, pear and heart-shaped.
  
  
• Diamonds - Carats
  In diamonds a carat refers to the weight of a diamond. The heavier in carat weight a diamond is, the rarer it becomes. Prices of diamond increase exponentially with the weight of the diamond.
  
  
• Diamonds - Color
  The colors in colored diamonds come from impurities between the cells of the crystals, or structural defects. The best color is colorless with the rarest being red, but diamonds come in many colors.
  
  
• Diamonds - Clarity
  Diamond clarity is one the 4Cs of diamond qualities. It refers to any flaws, or inclusions in diamonds, and how visible or detectable they are.
  
  
• Diamonds - The Certified Diamond
  Diamond certification is essential when you're buying diamonds and is different from a jeweler's appraisal. Be sure to ask about the characteristics or attributes of the stone.
  
  
• Diamonds - Diamond Insurance
  There are three main types of diamond insurance. Many diamond insurance policies are very similar but vary according to location, issuing company and sometimes even the type of diamonds.
  
  
• Diamonds - The Smithsonian Collection
  Some of the world's most spectacular diamonds and gems are located in the Smithsonian. Some of the finished diamond pieces include the crown Napoleon used for the second Empress, Marie Louise.
  
  
• Diamonds - Royal Diamonds
  From the earliest times, diamonds were the province of kings and queens. Louis IX of France decreed that only royalty could own diamonds. By the late 15th century, diamonds were used as wedding rings.
  
  
• Diamonds - The Hope Diamond
  Is there anyone who hasn't at least heard of the famous Hope Diamond? It is one of the many mysteries assiociated with diamonds.
  
  
• Diamonds - The Blue Heart Diamond
  Diamonds have many famous backgrounds, one ot these is the Blue Heart Diamon, also know as Eugenie Blue Diamond. As with many famous works it is at home in The Smithsonian Collection.
  
  
• Diamonds - Napoleon Diamond Necklace
  One of the most spectacular all-diamond pieces of jewelry in the Smithsonian Collection is the Napoleon diamond necklace. It contains172 diamonds weighing 275 carats.
  
  
• Diamonds - Victoria Transvaal Diamond
  The Victoria-Transvaal is a brownish-yellow pear shaped diamond stone. Like many famous diamonds it has been featured in several Hollywood films. It was found in Transvaal, South Africa.
  
  
• Diamonds - 2 Minerals Are Crystals
  2 Minerals are crystals - They have found the earliest types of precious gems in the form of natural crystals, such as quartz or diamonds. Crystals are solid substances where the molecules are arranged in a symmetrical fashion, and they generally fall into one of six shapes
  
  
• Diamonds - 3 Gemstones Are Mineral Crystals
  Diamonds - 3 Gemstones are mineral crystals - What specifically are gems and gemstones? We know some of the most common ones - emeralds, rubies, sapphires and diamonds. But what exactly are they, how are they made and why we do we prize them so highly?
  
  
• Common And Uncommon Gemstones
  The common and uncommon gemstones. Gemstones quite literally can take our breath away when we see them. Who hasn't seen a beautiful diamond or sapphire ring and exclaimed over it? Is it only their beauty that makes them so valuable? Why else would a gemstone be valuable to us?
  
  
• Why Are Most Minerals Not Popular As Gems
  There are millions of minerals that exist on the earth, but few of them are prized as gems and used for adornment. Many of them aren't in colors that are usually highly prized for jewelry. Or they're not able to be cut and polished to be made wearable as jewelry.
  
  
• Gem Cutting
  Gem Cutting - How it has changed over the years (50% of the original rough diamond is lost during the cutting of a round brilliant gem). How does a lump of mineral or crystal become a dazzling diamond, ruby or sapphire? It's an amazing process called gem cutting or lapidary and makes all the difference in the final value of the stone.
  
  
• Fluorescence
  We're all familiar with the 4Cs of diamonds - cut, color, clarity and carat weight. But diamonds also possess a quality called fluorescence that's part of the evaluation and assessment of a diamond. It's actually called photo-luminescence and it's caused by small amounts of the chemical boron in the diamond. It's activated by UV light.
  
  
• Diamonds - Fire
  The term fire is commonly used to describe a diamond, but what does it refer to? Fire in a diamond is the dispersed light that appears as rainbow-like flashes of color. You can usually observe a diamond's fire in places like restaurants or clubs where the light is lower.
  
  
• Care of Diamonds
  The care of diamonds is important. Diamonds are durable and strong, but should be cared for as though they were fine breakable china or more fragile gems. They can chip or scratch if you're not careful, and they can get quite dirty with oils from your skin and cosmetics, hair sprays or perfumes.
  
  
• Marie Louis Diadem
  The Marie-Louise diadem, now part of the Smithsonian Collection, was a wedding gift from Napoleon I to his second wife, Empress Marie-Louise in 1810.
  
  
• Marie Antoinette Diamond Earrings
  Two large, pear-shaped diamond earrings, weighing 14.25 and 20.34 carats respectively, are part of the Smithsonian Institution's collection. The diamonds once were supposedly set in earrings that belonged to Marie Antoinette and some sources say they were her favorite pieces of jewelry and she wore them constantly. They were taken from her during an attempt to flee France as the Revolution dawned and the position of the Royals became dangerous.
  
  
• Spanish Inquisition Necklace
  One doesn't normally associate beautiful jewelry, like diamonds and emeralds, with the time of the Spanish Inquisition. But in the Smithsonian Institution's collection of gems, there is an exquisite necklace of diamonds and emeralds. It is a spectacular double row of diamonds and emeralds ending in a chandelier of emeralds.
  
  
• Portuguese Diamond
  There's something so exciting about these incredibly large and perfect stones. One such diamond is called the Portuguese Diamond. While it's called the Portuguese Diamond, with a story that it was mined in Brazil and became part of the Portuguese Crown Jewels.
  
  
• American Topaz
  The world's largest cut topaz, called the American Topaz, resides at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. It's the largest cut yellow topaz in the world, and one of the largest faceted gems of any kind in the world. Originating from Minais Gerais, Brazil, it was cut over a period of two years.
  
  
• Beryls - Emeralds and Aquamarines
  The beryl is the family of crystal that creates emeralds and aquamarines, when its color is green or blue-green, respectively. Red beryl is bixbite or red emerald or scarlet emerald, pink beryl is morganite, white beryl is goshenite, and a clear bright yellow beryl is called golden beryl.
  
  
• Corundum
  Corundum is the form of mineral from which sapphires and rubies are derived. The mineral is naturally clear, but can have different colors when impurities are present. Corundum is actually the second hardest substance on the earth, after the diamond, and as such has many industrial uses.
  
  
• Ruby and Sapphire
  It's hard to imagine that a mineral with a name as mundane as corundum yields gems as exquisite as the ruby and sapphire, or even that these two stones, so different in color and mystique, are actually the same mineral family.