History of Diamonds

The word "diamond" comes from the Greek word "adamas" which means unconquerable. It is made up of pure carbon and is the hardest natural substance known to man. Deep deposits of carbon evolve under extreme heat and pressure to form what will be the most precious stone on earth - the diamond. The first riverbed (alluvial) diamonds were probably discovered in India, in around 800 B.C. It is thought that the volcanic source of these diamonds was never discovered but the alluvial deposits were rich enough to supply most of the world's diamonds until the eighteenth century, when Indian supplies were dwindling. It probably spurred the exploration that led to the discovery of diamonds in Brazil which became the next important diamond source.The first known engagement ring was given by Archduke Maximilian of Austria in 1477. The wife to be, Mary, wore it on the third finger of her left hand, now known as the ring finger. This was done so that the ring touched a vein believed to go directly to the heart. Today, more than 200,000 diamond engagement rings are placed on ring fingers every year. Beginning in 1866, South Africa's massive diamond deposits were discovered and a major deposit was found in Siberia in 1954. Currently Western Canada is the site of the world's newest diamond rush. In 1869, a shepherd boy discovered an 83.4 carat rough diamond in South Africa signaling the beginning of the great diamond rush. Before this, only India and Brazil were considered serious sources of diamonds. Throughout most of history, diamonds were mined from the sand and gravel surrounding rivers. However, in South Africa in 1870, a diamond was found in the earth far from a river source, and the practice of dry digging for diamonds was born. More sophisticated mining techniques allowed deeper subterranean digging, as well as more efficient river mining, than ever before. Most recently marine mining has been used.The largest rough diamond was discovered weighing in at 3,106 carats in 1905. Edward VII chose Joseph Asscher to cut two stones fine enough for the British Crown Jewels. These two stones remain among the largest cut diamonds in the world today.The 4 C's were introduced by De Beers in 1939. This helped educate consumers about diamond quality and value. The Cs stand for cut, color, carat and clarity. All factors that should be taken into consideration when establishing the right price for a stone. Consumers can now begin to distinguish the qualities that make up the most valuable diamonds. The grading of diamonds is a minor art, takes excellent eyesight and long practice. The stones are of varying shades of whiteness. Color is one of the four C's by which diamonds are graded; the others are Clarity, Cutting and Carat weight. (The matter of flaws is classified under Clarity.)Next in importance to the beauty and value of the stone is the cut. Because of the diamond's great power to refract light, a properly cut modern stone will catch rays of light and direct them toward the center of the stone, from which they will be reflected back through the top, the "table", to give the greatest brilliance.For centuries, the cutting of diamonds was avoided. In India, where all diamonds were mined until the discoveries in Brazil in the eighteenth century, the stones were simply polished and rough points smoothed off, leaving them as near their original size as possible. Sometime before the first travelers from the West appeared, a workman had found a stone that was flat on both top and bottom and polished it crudely with diamond dust to create the ancestor of the table cut. In some period before the fifteenth century, an unknown genius in India began to shape diamonds by cutting facets, for the first time bringing out their brilliance. Eventually, the idea of faceting crossed to Venice and moved north. The earliest record of diamond polishing is Indian and probably dates from the fourteenth century. There are also contemporary references to the practice of diamond polishing in Venice. The earliest reference to diamond cutting is in 1550 in Antwerp, the most important diamond center of the period, where a diamond cutters' guild was soon to be established. As most stories in diamond history, there are as many conflicting tales as there are facets about who faceted the first stones in Europe. There is an anecdote about a certain Louis de Berquem, who supposedly lived in Belgium in the fifteenth century and is credited with being the first to cut diamonds to a geometric pattern. Later sources agree that it was Cardinal Mazarin who gave the impetus in Europe toward the daring innovation of cutting. For it did take daring and some knowledge of diamond cleavage to split or facet a stone correctly, when any error would shatter the gem and leave only a worthless heap of diamond dust.All of this romance was reduced to cold science in 1919 when a physicist by the name of Marcel Tolkowsky mathematically determined the precise, most advantageous placing of each of the facets, which until then was arranged at the whim of the cutter. The Tolkowsky Cut was so superior that all cutters were glad to adopt it. Even the emerald cut diamond gets its brilliance from faceting: 24 above the girdle, 8 comprising the girdle itself and 24 below.The cutting of diamonds into the complex facetted forms we now associate with these gems is actually a relatively recent practice. For centuries, rough diamonds were kept as talismans, and often not worn at all. The cutting of a diamond is the only way by which man can enhance the value of a stone; the other three "C's" are either there or they are not. However, cutting can make a vast difference in brilliancy as well as in retail price. There is an ideal cut for diamonds as well as an ideal number of facets, but the ideal cut often reduces the finished stone more than the cutter wishes. To compare a stone to the ideal cut instantly, the diamond office has a "proportion scope", an instrument that magnifies a diamond onto a small screen where the ideal cut is outlined. Too shallow a cut will distort the reflections of light so that they do not flash up through the table properly, but skip away through the sides or the bottom. Since more than half the weight of a stone may be lost in faceting, cutters are often tempted to sacrifice brilliance for a larger stone. That is why it is possible to buy a "flat" stone for less than a smaller stone with the ideal cut. That is also why the unknowing buyer thinks she is getting a bargain when she finds a larger stone selling for the same price as a smaller stone.The last "C" in judging stones is the weight, the carats, so named from the seeds of the carob tree, which were used to balance the scales in ancient Oriental bazaars. About 142 carats weigh an ounce; stones of less than a carat are called "pointers" (100 points equal one carat).Buyers must never forget that all four "C's" are taken into account in the price. A one-carat flawless diamond will fetch much more than an off color, flawed or poorly cut stone of much greater weight. Flaws can be studied under the diamond scope, which can magnify up to forty-five times, to determine if a slight recutting of the stone will eliminate the defect.Estimates are that 85% of the diamonds sold in the country as "flawless" are not. In Europe, the term is not used at all. A stone of good color, though flawed, is more beautiful than a flawless stone of poor color - and is easier to resell.Hoarding has always been a favorite form of hedge against disaster in unstable countries. Diamonds are not only the most portable form of wealth but have a stable universal market, as opposed to the currency of any one country. The price of diamonds fluctuates less than that of anything else precious, such as gold, in the free market, for the simple reason that there is no free market in diamonds. From 1960 through 1969, wholesale prices of diamonds over a carat rose almost twice as much as the Dow-Jones industrial average. There is small chance prices will go down, not only because of the cartel, but because the supply of diamonds has not increased at a time when the custom of giving an engagement ring, once chiefly popular only in the Western world, has spread around the globe. Also, the market in the United States has gradually changed; the once popular one quarter carat diamond ring is too small; most young people now want a half carat or larger. As it has for eighty years, DeBeers keeps the supply remarkably in line with demand. Fearing the news that large river deposits had been found in Russia, the diamond minded were worried about the thought of competition. The sad fact is that even Russia markets most of her diamonds through DeBeers. It is more profitable that way. In all, 85 percent of the world's diamonds are parceled out at the ten sights (sales) a year in London, where DeBeers sells its wares. Each producer is guaranteed a fixed percentage of total output. That is DeBeers commits to buy that amount and market it through the Central Selling Organization (CSO). Producers in turn are charged a handling and marketing fee, ranging between 10 - 20%, depending on the amount purchased and the general demand situation. Over 80% of the world's diamonds were traded through the CSO in its early days. Recent developments have caused a downward trend in this percentage; present estimates range between 65 - 75 percent.One of DeBeers' main roles is to maintain the notion that diamonds are a scarce commodity. They do this by means of advertising and by purchasing excess supplies to avoid price decreases. As a matter of principal, prices are never lowered by DeBeers. This tightly knit organization has proven beneficial for most in different ways: For producers, often state run diamond mines in developing countries relying heavily on diamonds, are provided with a stable inflow of foreign currency. For dealers, they enjoy stable price increases, which can easily be passed on to consumers. DeBeers, however, seems to be benefiting the most from the agreement, asking for what producers often perceive as inappropriately large fees and in turn charging prices to merchants at their own discretion. The temptation for both producers and dealers to bypass the CSO is therefore quite significant.