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About diamonds
The allure
For centuries, diamonds’ exquisite beauty and inner fire have made them prized above all other gems. Each diamond is endowed with a character uniquely its own.
Craftsmen and kings
The name diamond derives from the ancient Greek ἀδάμας (adamas) meaning "invincible" or "untamed". Diamonds’ usage in engraving tools dates back to early human history, and they have been treasured as unique gemstones since their use as religious icons in ancient India.
The Romans believed that diamonds had the power to ward off evil and wore them as talismans. Once the preserve of royalty, Pliny the Elder, a Roman scholar said in 77 AD: “Diamond is a gem known only to kings” and indeed, a law was passed in 13th Century France ruling that only the King could wear diamonds.
Mystery, magic and medicine
Commonly linked to power and virility, diamonds were worn uncut by medieval knights on their armour in the belief that they could make them invincible, a myth no doubt related to the stones’ hardness. Some even attributed magical and medicinal properties to diamonds. One anecdote, written during the Dark Ages by St Hildegarde, relates how a diamond held in the hand while making a sign of the cross would heal wounds and cure illnesses, and some even ingested diamonds in the hope of curing sickness.
Ever since their discovery, legends and myths of diamonds have abounded. Who could forget the Valley of Diamonds, protected by serpents, encountered by Sinbad? And the stories are often shrouded in mystery. The need to possess these glittering stones has long caused people to behave in strange and irrational ways; ‘diamond fever’ has been a well known affliction of prospectors throughout the years, often leading to their ruin. The search for diamonds, one of the world’s scarcest commodities, is often beset by challenges, with the odds stacked against a successful outcome.
Image courtesy of Jenna Clifford
Enduring value
The world’s most highly concentrated form of wealth, diamonds possess a value, both aesthetic and pecuniary, that endures with the passing of the years. One diamond merchant remarked in 1823: ‘There are few things in history that at first sight appear so remarkable as the prodigious value which, by common consent in all ages and in all civilised countries, has been attached to the diamond’ (The Magic of Diamonds – A. Monnickendam).
However, it is perhaps their emotional value which surpasses all other. Throughout the ages, diamonds have been associated with virtue, purity, strength, wealth, power, worship, and so it is that today the gift of a diamond represents all these things and more: passion, love, honour, commitment, and a dream for the future. These sentiments cannot be bought and they cannot be replicated, but they can be embodied in a diamond.