Pink cut diamond
What to say about the diamond ? Is it worth writing about this gem again? Type diamond in your favorite search engine and you will be very well informed. You will know the 4C's, the shades of color, or rather colorless, from D to Z through H (quality often offered in jewelry), the scales of purity from I3 (very included) to F (perfectly pure under a 10x loupe).
If you investigate further, you will discover that there are different types of diamonds, depending on whether or not they contain nitrogen. You can then divide these types into subtypes. If you like to classify objects you will undoubtedly find something to satisfy your appetite in the study of diamonds.
Beyond the technical terms, evaluating the quality of a diamond is a very difficult exercise that requires some practice. The wisest thing to do, unless you want to make a financial investment, is to trust your eye and buy the stone that attracts you the most. We always enjoy admiring what we like, regardless of the pedigree.
Diamond is made up of carbon only, it is a native element, like gold or lead. It crystallizes in the cubic system. It is extremely resistant, with a hardness of 10 on the Mohs scale. It is the gem with the best scratch resistance. One can therefore wear a diamond very easily without risking damage to its surface. Nevertheless, diamond has a perfect cleavage, which means that it can break sharply in certain directions. Fortunately, this cleavage is difficult and it takes a fairly powerful blow to see the gem break.
The other advantage of diamonds is their incomparable brilliance and luster due to their ability to "slow down" light. A well-cut and polished diamond will always appear brighter than a quartz, aquamarine or sapphire. Few gems are comparable to diamonds in terms of brilliance, but zircon and demantoid garnet have exceptional brilliance, even if it is less than that of a diamond.
Diamond has exceptional qualities of strength and beauty. Add to that its rarity and you have all the ingredients to make this mineral the most famous and coveted gem in the world.
This gem evokes wealth, brilliance, strength and value. These verses by Victor Hugo, the first in his poem Halte en marchant (The Contemplations) show how instinctively this stone reminds us of the light emanating from nature.
« Une brume couvrait l'horizon ; maintenant,Voici le clair midi qui surgit rayonnant ;Le brouillard se dissout en perles sur les branches,Et brille, diamant, au collier des pervenches. »
Absolute natural perfection the diamond is copied, imitated in many ways. Strass, quartz, colorless sapphire, zirconium oxide, zircon, moissanite, synthetic diamond... Natural or artificial, many materials are used in place of natural diamond. These substitutes have the advantage of making the charm of this irresistibly attractive gem accessible, even if they are often only dull copies.