What Makes A Diamond Special

Diamonds are commercially the most important of all gem species. It is estimated that diamonds account for approximately 90% of the value of gemstones purchased throughout the world.

• Throughout history, they have been admired by kings and worn as a symbol of strength, courage and invincibility. Today they are seen as the ultimate gift of love. But where does this association originate and what is it intrinsically that makes a diamond so important?
• Gemstones by definition are rare, durable, desirable and beautiful and a diamond is the ultimate embodiment of these qualities. In terms of rarity diamonds are notoriously difficult to find, a fact that makes them even more desirable. Once located it is even harder to then recover material of gem quality. For example, on average 250 tonnes of ore must be mined and processed to produce just one carat of gem-quality diamond.
• In terms of durability, diamond is the hardest naturally occurring substance known to exist. In fact, the name for diamond derives from the Greek ‘adamas’ meaning the unconquerable. It is also resistant to most chemicals. It is this supreme hardness that ensures a lasting precision of cut – quite unique among gemstones. It is the hardness however that presents a challenge for faceting and requires the application of highly specialist cutting techniques. The precision in terms of proportions and angles with which stones must be cut demands a high degree of skill from the diamond cutter.

Once cut we grade diamonds on what has become known as the Four C’s: Colour, Cut, Clarity and Carat; although the secret to a diamond’s value goes beyond this criterion alone. Diamonds owe their beauty to their exceptional optical properties of fire, brilliance, surface lustre and transparency.

• Diamonds display a higher degree of dispersion than any other natural colourless gemstone. Dispersion is the property known as ‘fire’ and is the ability the diamond has to spilt a ray of light into the spectral colours you see when you move a diamond under the light.
• Brilliance by definition is the return of ‘white light’ to the surface of a polished diamond. It is the degree of brightness seen from the top of the diamond when the light has reflected through the pavilion (lower section of a faceted stone) and the surface of a diamond. This is best seen in daylight.
• Lustre is the surface reflection effect. Because of the incredible hardness of diamonds, it can take a high degree of polish which creates mirror-like reflections and gemmologically this is known as ‘adamantine’. This is also unique and is another way in which we can distinguish diamonds from their simulants (fakes).
• Diamonds are also special and desirable because of their transparency. Optically we can clearly see through the stone and this allows us to appreciate their beauty and in fact, diamonds are the most transparent of all the crystalline materials.

The rarity of larger, clean coloured and well-cut stones combined with international marketing make diamonds a desirable asset. As a consequence of this, many fakes and simulates are found on the market; although as we can see by the above, nothing beats the real thing.