How Diamonds Made

Diamonds form between 75-120 miles below the earth's surface. According to geologists the first delivery of diamonds was somewhere around 2.5 billion years ago and the most recent was 45 million years ago. The carbon that makes diamonds comes from the melting of pre-existing rocks in the Earth's upper mantle. There is an abundance of carbon atoms in the mantle. Temperature changes in the upper mantle forces the carbon atoms to go deeper where it melts and finally becomes new rock, when the temperature reduces. If other conditions like pressure and chemistry is right then the carbon atoms in the melting crystal rock bond to build diamond crystals.

There is no guarantee that these carbon atoms will turn into diamonds. If the temperature rises or the pressure drops then the diamond crystals may melt partially or totally dissolve. Even if they do form, it takes thousand of years for those diamonds to come anywhere near the surface.

It takes millions of years to make a diamond. When you own a diamond, you own something which is a legend in the making. It has not been made in a factory just the other day. A diamond comes from the bosom of the earth. More interestingly not all the diamonds mined are made into jewelry. Only one fourth of the diamonds that are mined are made into jewelry. Every 100 tons of mud produces one carat of a diamond. And this one carat is not one stone! It could be anything from 0.005 ct to 1 ct. because much of the original stone is cut away in the process of cutting, shaping and polishing the diamond.

Diamonds come in different rough shapes. The next time you look at your diamond, think about the amount of time, energy and resources that have gone into making that one precious stone.

De Young Red

De Young Red, a 5.03-carat, brilliant cut red diamond. The main kite-shaped facets on the crown are divided in two, giving the stone more brilliance than a standard round brilliant cut. The stone is not pure red but has a slight brown hue, which makes it appear like a fine red garnet and indeed, it was once purchased as such at an estate sale.

It is the third largest red diamond in the world, after the Moussaieff Red (5.11 carats) and the Red Diamond (5.05 carats).

Shepard Diamond

Other colored diamonds in the Smithsonian Collection include the 8.30-carat Shepard Diamond.

This stone is from South Africa, and was acquired by the Smithsonian Museum in exchange for a collection of small diamonds that had been seized as smuggled goods by the United States Customs Service. The diamond is named for the Smithsonian employee who helped facilitate the transaction.


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Picture courtesy from famousdiamonds.tripod.com

Victoria Transvaal Diamond

The Victoria-Transvaal is a 67.89-carat, brownish-yellow pear shaped stone. It was cut from a 240-carat crystal that was found in the Transvaal, South Africa. The first cutting produced a 75-carat 116-facet stone that measured 1 x 1³/8 inches; a recutting retained the same length and width, but reduced the depth to better proportions, making it more brilliant. The diamond has been featured in several Hollywood films, including a Tarzan episode from 1952 titled Tarzan's Savage Fury, and in leading exhibitions in the United States and Canada.

The necklace was designed by Baumgold Brothers, Inc, and consists of a yellow gold chain with 66 round brilliant-cut diamonds, fringed with ten drop motifs, each set with two marquise-cut diamonds, a pear-shaped diamond, and a small round brilliant-cut diamond (the total weight of the 106 diamonds is about 45 carats). The configuration of these stones makes them look like small angels! The necklace was donated by Leonard and Victoria Wilkinson in 1977 to the Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C.


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All About the Clarity of Diamonds

Clarity is an important aspect of a diamond, and it is important to know how to grade the clarity of a diamond before you buy one. It is actually quite easy to learn how to grade the clarity of a diamond. There are basically two things that you must understand: Diamonds with visual inclusions and blemishes, and those that are ‘eye clean’ meaning that there are no inclusions or blemishes that can be seen with the naked eye. From there, the clarity of a diamond is further broken down into subcategories.

Many people mistakenly think that diamond clarity refers to how clear it is. This isn’t so. Clarity actually refers to the internal and external imperfections of the diamond. The best diamonds, of course get a grade of FL or IF – Flawless or Internally Flawless – meaning that it is perfect. A grade of I-1, I-2 or I-3 means that the diamond is imperfect, with a grade of I-3 being the worst.

Other grades are VVS1 and VVS2, which means that the diamond is very, very slightly imperfect; VS1 and VS2, meaning the diamond is very slightly imperfect; SI-1 and SI-2, which means that the diamond is slightly imperfect.

Spanish Inquisition Necklace

One doesn’t normally associate beautiful jewelry 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. There is unfortunately very little information about the provenance of this necklace. The large diamonds and Columbian emeralds were most likely cut in India in the 17th century. This would make them one of the earliest examples of cut gemstones in the Smithsonian’s Collection. There are really only legends surrounding this necklace. They indicate that it was worn at times by Spanish and French royalty. In the early 20th century, it was purchased by the Maharajah of Indore, whose son sold the necklace in 1947 to Harry Winston. Winston subsequently sold the necklace to Mrs. Cora Hubbard Williams of Pittsburgh. She bequeathed it to the Smithsonian in 1972.

Emeralds are a form of crystal known as beryls. Beryls are normally clear crystals, but when infused with chromium or vanadium, they attain various gradations of green. The purest green are the rarest emeralds and many people actually prefer an emerald that has a blue-green tint.

Before the 16th century, the only known emerald deposits were in Cleopatra’s Egyptian mines. But after emeralds were discovered in Columbia, those became the “gold standard” in emeralds. Columbian emeralds have been discovered by archaeologists among artifacts of such tribes as the Inca, Maya, Aztec, Toltec and the lesser-known Chibcha Indians. Emeralds are among the rarest of gemstones and can be more expensive per carat than even the finest diamonds! They are a hard mineral, with a Moh’s hardness scale of 7 or 8 (compared to a diamond’s 10). While most emeralds are found in Africa, Russia and Africa, there have been discoveries of emerald deposits in North Carolina!


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Smithsonian Collection

Some of the world’s most spectacular diamonds and other gems are located in the National Gem Collection in the Museum of Natural History in Smithsonian Collection in Washington, D.C. In the collection are diamonds known to almost everyone, such as the Hope Diamond, as well as other large diamonds and other precious gems and jewelry.

In the National Gem Collection are examples of spectacular minerals and crystals, as well gemstones and jewelry. You can see a beautiful purple quartz amethyst crystal, or the mineral azurite, which is a bright blue copper compound mineral. You can also see a huge green beryl crystal. Beryls are the mineral family that include emeralds, aquamarines, heliodor and morganite. It’s almost as exciting to see the raw crystal as it is to see the finished product when it’s been cut and polished.

Some of the finished pieces in the Smithsonian Collection include the crown Napoleon used for the second Empress, Marie Louise. It originally was made of 700 carats in diamonds and 79 emeralds. The emeralds have been replaced with Persian turquoise cabochons.


You can also see the 182-carat Star of Bombay star sapphire that was given to Mary Pickford by Douglas Fairbanks and a brilliantly colored black opal. Black opals are the most valuable of the opal family of gems.


There are also extraordinary examples of quartz crystals, including a 7,000 faceted clear quartz egg! Part of the Smithsonian’s collection includes pieces of jade and turquoise used in other cultures. This includes a collection of Zuni Indian turquoise jewelry and jade lanterns carved from nephrite for the Chinese emperor Chi’en Lung in 1750. A more modern piece is the Dragon Vase, carved from a rare piece of lavender jade.

But of course, the most dazzling items in the collection are the individual gemstones and jewelry that have been owned by royalty through the centuries.

Royalty Diamonds

When did diamonds first become recognized as precious stones and used for jewelry? The earliest reference to them has been found in a Sanskrit document dated around 300 BCE. They were associated with the Gods and were used to decorate religious icons and statues. In India, only Kings, the highest caste, were allowed to own them.

Although diamonds were traded east and west of India, they were still prized in their natural crystal state, or polished to increase the shine and luster of them. The first guild of diamond cutters was established in 1375, and it was then that the practice of cutting the stones and faceting them was developed.

From the earliest times, diamonds were the province of Kings and Queens. In fact, in the 13th century, Louis IX of France decreed that only royalty could own diamonds, a dictate which faded away about 100 years later. By the late 15th century, they were used as wedding rings.

The largest diamond ever found was a 3106-carat diamond discovered in 1905 in a mine owned by Thomas Cullinan, for whom the stone was made. It was cut into smaller stones, the largest being made into the 530-carat Great Star of Africa diamond, cut by the Asscher Brothers, a famous diamond firm to this day. It’s also called the Cullinan I diamond, and is set in the Scepter of the Cross of the United Kingdom. A smaller stone cut from the Cullinan diamond is called the Lesser Star of Africa. It weighs 317 carats and is part of the Imperial State Crown. Both gems can be seen as part of the British Crown Jewels which are displayed in the Tower of London. The rest of the Cullinan diamond was cut into 11 smaller-weight stones and a number of fragments.

While the Cullinan diamond is the largest diamond ever found, there is a rumor that the man who discovered the diamond actually broke off part of the diamond before presenting it to the mine’s owner. This diamond, if the rumor is true, would have been 5,000 carats!

Colored Diamonds

Fancy colored diamonds are all the rage these days. Gemologists have developed new ways to create versions that are affordable for the average person - by treating less desirable diamonds. These less desirable diamonds are treated with irradiation followed by intense heat. This turns brown and yellowish diamonds into beautifully colored diamonds that you can afford. This produces stunning greens, blues, yellows, reds, purples and other colors. These colors are considered permanent, but there is a possibility they could change during repairs if a high heat is used.

Treatments like irradiation make it possible for more people to own these vividly colored diamonds. Most natural colored diamonds are rare and also extremely expensive. When shopping for colored diamonds you need to assume that any affordable fancy color diamond has been treated. Ask about the stones origin and request to view a lab certificate to verify authenticity.

Synthetic colored diamonds are another option if owning a colored diamond is something you desire but cannot quite afford. They are real diamonds, but they are created in a lab.

Natural fancy color diamonds get their coloring from different trace elements present in the stones, such as nitrogen, which produces a yellow diamond. Diamonds can be colored by exposure to radiation during its creation. An example of a diamond affected by radiation is a Green diamond.

Another way that a natural colored diamond gets color is by its inclusions. Regarded as flaws and undesirable in a colorless diamond, inclusions give unique tones and brilliant flashes of color in a fancy color diamond. Remember that Natural fancy colored diamonds are very expensive, any colored diamond labeled to be sold as natural should be accompanied by a certificate from a respected grading lab.

A "fancy" diamond is a natural diamond that has color. These colors vary from red, green, purple, violet, orange, blue and pink – and most shades between. Fancy color shades vary from faint to intense.

The most famous diamonds in the world are Color diamonds. The Tiffany Diamond, which is yellow and the Hope Diamond which is blue are colored diamonds. Color diamonds have an amazing financial track record. The value has never decreased on wholesale level in more than 30 years. Blue and pink diamonds have doubled every 5 years of a strong economy. In the 1970’s you could have bought a very high quality blue diamond for about 50K and today the very same stone would be worth between 2 and 3 million.

What Are Dirty Diamonds?

A dirty diamond is one of two things: a rough diamond, or a diamond that hasn’t been cleaned in a while. Rough diamonds are uncut and unpolished – hence, they are dirty. But that type of dirty diamond will soon be cut and polished and sitting in a beautiful jewel box in a display case. Then someone will purchase it, and before long, it will become a dirty diamond once again.

Diamonds become dirty. When you wash your hands with a diamond ring on, soap scum clings to it. When you put on hand lotion, it gets grease on it. Shower with your diamond earrings or necklace, and again, you get soap scum. In one short day, your brand new diamond could be dirty!

Purchase an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner the same day that you purchase your diamond jewelry, and use it every single day, without fail. The clarity of the diamond changes when the diamond is dirty – it loses its sparkle. By taking one minute each day to clean your diamond jewelry, you can avoid this, and your diamonds will never be dirty!

Napoleon Diamond Necklace

One of the most spectacular all-diamond pieces of jewelry in the Smithsonian Institution is the Napoleon necklace. Thought to have originally been owned by Catherine the Great of Russia, it was presented by the Emperor Napoleon of France to his second wife, Marie-Louise of Austria on the birth of their son in 1811. The silver and gold set necklace contains172 diamonds weighing 275 carats - 28 oval and cushion-cut diamonds, dangling 19 briolette-cut oval and pear shaped diamonds and accented by small, round diamonds and diamond set motifs in a silver and gold setting. The diamonds are cut in "old mine" style, the precursor to the modern brilliant cut, and have a high degree of fire (flashes of color as the stone moves in light), but less brilliance due to less light refraction through the top of the stone.

The necklace has an estimated total gem weight of 275 carats, and the largest single diamond on it weighs approximately 10 carats. When Marie-Louise died in 1847, the necklace was given to her sister-in-law, Archduchess Sophie of Austria, who removed two stones to shorten the necklace. Earrings were made with the two removed stones, the whereabouts of which are unknown.

In 1872, the necklace was bequeathed to the Archduchess' son, Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria. In 1948, Archduke Ludwig's grandson, Prince Franz Joseph of Liechtenstein, sold the necklace to a French collector who then sold it to Harry Winston in 1960. Marjorie Merriweather Post obtained the necklace from Winston and donated it to the Smithsonian Institution in 1962.

It’s difficult to value a piece like this in today’s market. However, in 1993, the auction house Christie’s in Geneva sold another necklace that Napoleon had given to Marie-Louise that was composed of rubies and diamonds. This necklace sold for $13 million.