Diamonds: A Legacy of Brilliance.

It is not known who discovered the very first diamond but the earliest reference to natural diamonds comes from ancient India. These diamonds were valued for their beauty and believed to possess protective qualities. Indians associated diamonds with celestial virtues and were often worn by warriors and royalty for protection against evil spirits. Humans were immediately captivated by a diamonds brilliance and unwillingness to be cut and shaped, leading people to believe that they must have come from the gods. A diamond’s extreme strength and unique physical properties linked them to power, protection and invincibility.  

Ancient Greeks believed diamonds were the tears of the gods or the splinters of stars that had fallen to Earth. This mythological significance contributed to their value as decorative pieces in jewellery and crowns. 

By the Middle Ages, diamonds had made their way to Europe through trade routes connecting India to the continent. During this time, a diamond’s value was determined not just by size but also by its cut and clarity. 

Diamonds became symbols of status and power among Kings and Queens in Europe. Royal courts began to adorn themselves with diamonds cementing their status as a symbol of power and nobility.  

India remained the only source of natural diamonds until the 1800s when significant diamond discoveries were made in Brazil and South Africa.  

The only thing believed to be as strong and unbreakable as a diamond was love, which is the beginning of our association with diamonds as gifts of love.    

In 1477, famous European royalty, Archduke Maximilian of Austria, proposed to his love, Mary of Burgundy, with what is known as the first diamond ring proposal. The idea of an engagement period before marriage was relatively new and Maximilian wanted to symbolize his love and make the engagement known with the gem that had embodied strength and endurance since its discovery. This rare gem began to take on a stronger identity that stood for commitment, romance, and everlasting love as the tradition for diamond engagement rings spread like wildfire around the world. Today, natural diamonds continue to be a timeless and enduring symbol of love, strength, and pure, all-natural beauty. 

Beyond their great beauty, diamonds are valued by scientists for all of the things we cannot see. Diamonds form when carbon atoms bond almost exclusively with four other carbon atoms. Electrostatic forces within and between the bonded carbon atoms lock them into perfectly uniform spacing. Each carbon atom is exactly the same distance from each of the other carbon atoms that it is bonded to. The regular and precise spacing between atoms in three-dimensional space is why diamonds are transparent. It is also why diamonds can be cut to precise angles, forming perfect lines and planes. It’s what gives them their sparkle. 

Carbon is one of only a few atoms that can form such perfect, uniform bonds with itself. That’s one of the reasons that diamonds are unique compared to other natural materials.  Carbon only forms this unique bond under very specific conditions – at very high temperatures and pressures. 

One of the challenges in understanding how and when Earth’s crust formed is that it happened so long ago and so far below the Earth’s surface. It’s just not possible collect samples from such depths with current technology. Even if we could reach that far into the Earth, how do you collect samples from a billion years ago? Herein lies the hidden value of diamonds. They are ideal vessels in which ancient messages can be carried forward through time from seemingly un-survivable depths, pressures, and temperatures. Diamonds carry billion-year-old messages from Earth’s mantle to its surface. 

Diamonds also carry other kinds of elemental messages. These messages come in the form of elements that get locked inside diamonds as they form, commonly known as inclusions. Effectively, inclusions are tiny samples of historic conditions that were collected by a diamond when it formed. Diamonds truly are natural wonders. They are time capsules that allow scientists to collect samples from billions of years ago. 

Each diamond carries the signature of its origin and the conditions it experienced as it grew. Roman naturalist Pliny stated “Diamond is the most valuable, not only of precious stones, but of all things in this world”. 

Each diamond is as unique as you are and holds a legacy of brilliance that can be traced back billions of years to the deepest corners of the earth.