Diamonds

Diamonds, by nature of their unique characteristics, can be evaluated much more precisely than other gems. Their extreme hardness allows ...
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This article gives an overview of the history of diamond cutting. For detailed descriptions of the different diamond cuts see ...
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Adamantine is the term used to describe the luster exhibited by diamonds and gems with a Refractive Index of 1.9 - 2.5. The root word adamant ...
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Like many historical diamonds, the Agra’s saga is a familiar combination of fact and legend, leaving the reader with the challenging ...
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Unfortunately, the history of famous diamonds is not without its list of casualties. In this category are those magnificent stones that somehow ...
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 The term allochromatic is used in reference to gem materials that derive their color from elements that are not an ...
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This anniversary gift list is a recent compilation that is recognized by the American Gem Trade Association, Jewelers of America, ...
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This stone enjoys the distinction of being the twelfth largest “perfect” diamond in the world. Named for a military man of royal ...
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ARCOTS – A Pair of Diamonds These two exceptionally beautiful pear-shaped diamonds began their travels from the Nawab of Arcot ...
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In 1902 the Dutch diamond cutter Joseph Asscher developed the cut that would carry his name on into the future ...
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The baguette cut represents an elongated, rectangular table cut. The modern version, as in the ring on the right, was (re)introduced ...
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One could rightfully call this stone the Rodney Dangerfield of diamonds. Almost from the moment of its discovery, this diamond ...
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This diamond's name is taken from its first recorded French owner, Nicolas Harlay de Sancy, a fancier of fine gems who ...
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Brilliant Cut Diamonds as We Know Them When we think of a diamond, most of us will form an image ...
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Briolette Cut Edwardian Garland Motif Pendant Suspending a Briolette Cut Diamond. Briolettes are drop shaped, multi faceted stones. They are ...
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To paraphrase Charles Dickens, this is a tale of two diamonds. Purportedly cut from the same stone that produced the Hope Diamond, ...
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Bruting is a process in diamond cutting that establishes the girdle outline. Once the height and width of the diamond are determined, it is ...
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Carbon is a chemical element on the periodic table. Carbon is the 15th most abundant element in the earth's crust ...
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DefinitionThe ability of a material to split along a certain plane or planes with weak atomic bonding. A crystal structure ...
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If ever fate has lent a hand in determining the course of a diamond's story, it is this one. Just a ...
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It was the late afternoon of January 25, 1905. Employees at the Premier Diamond Mine in the British African colony ...
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Cushion cut is a sexy and romantic name for a squarish ("cushionesque") antique brilliant-cut diamond, sometimes referred to as an ...
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Darya-ye-Noor Diamond. Darya-ye-Noor, translating “river of light” or “sea of light”, is the product of an undocumented – but what ...
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Diamonds are valued for their incredible brilliance and hardness. Diamonds are chemically pure carbon, identical to the graphite used for ...
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Diamond Cuts Main Article Gems & Gemology: The Quarterly Journal of the Gemological Institute of America Diamond Cutting & Grading: Summer ...
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The Dresden Green Diamond in its Setting. Labeled as the greatest example of a naturally green colored diamond, the Dresden Green ...
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The Emerald Cut is a rectangular step cut design which means it has horizontal facets which differ in angles of ...
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Although these two diamonds are often spoken about in the same breath, no two stones could be more different – ...
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Believed to be of Brazilian origin, this much-traveled diamond has not only changed hands many times, it’s also one of the few ...
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Diamonds cut in the later 19th and early 20th-century cutting houses are called 'Old European Cuts', a term which indicates ...
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June 30, 1893, appeared to be just another day at the Jagersfontein Mine in South Africa until a worker, performing ...
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Definition A facet is a flat, planar surface ground onto a gemstone or diamond. Facets can be produced in many shapes and sizes ...
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Filling is a gemstone enhancement method which indicates a broad range of treatments. From simple oiling to resin impregnation to the filling ...
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A popular term used to describe the flashes of spectral colors displayed by a gemstone as the result of dispersion ...
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Studying the history of this diamond is an exercise that will challenge even the most talented detective. Almost everything about this diamond’s ...
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Art Deco French-Cut Diamond Straightline Bracelet. The term "French Cut" does not refer to the country of origin, rather It ...
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More Information Gems & Gemology: The Quarterly Journal of the Gemological Institute of America. G&G Article Index:  Famous Diamonds Below please ...
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Gadolinium Gallium Garnet. A synthetic gemstone used as an early diamond substitute. GGG is manufactured by the Czochralski method and ...
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AmberSpring 1943, Amber, by Briggs, p. 78, 3pp.Fall 1959 A Pink Amber-Like Resin from Southern Calif., p. 337, 2pp.Fall 1963, A Painted Amber, ...
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The band on a faceted stone, around the widest circumference, which creates the separation of the crown and pavilion of ...
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If you record size as the number one trait in judging the importance of a diamond then this stone would top your ...
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This is the kind of story that would make a great Indiana Jones movie – solving the mystery of the ...
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If ever there was a famous diamond named for a certified scoundrel, it’s the Hastings Diamond. Using this gem as a tool ...
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This is the story of a diamond whose beginnings and early history are unknown, a casualty of lost or poor documentation. It ...
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Thievery, royalty, revolution, gambling, eccentricity, mystery and curses are all part of the spectacular and storied past that is the ...
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It seems each famous diamond has some kind of mystery attached to it, usually involving the location of its discovery, the identity ...
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HPHT treatment stands for high pressure - high-temperature treatment. This method of diamond enhancement, invented in the late 1960's, started to be applied commercially ...
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Like many of its contemporaries, the Idol’s Eye diamond possesses an early history that combines a rich mixture of legend, myth, mystery, ...
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Inclusions are internal features within a gemstone, often small enough to require a microscope for viewing. This term usually refers ...
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In 1904 William Crookes, a well known physicist discovers that diamonds turn green upon exposure to radium. The diamonds stayed radioactive and ...
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Kazanjian Red Diamond.©Tino Hammid, Los Angeles This stone belongs to an extremely small – and select - group of diamonds ...
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The Fabled Koh-i-Noor Diamond Like other famous gems, the Koh-i-Noor diamond has its share of mystery, intrigue, and curses attached to its ...
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Gemstones that are produced by man are generally termed "laboratory grown". These can be synthetics or other inorganic minerals that have no ...
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Surface reaching fractures containing dirt have long been boiled in acid or bleached to remove unwanted inclusions. About 10 years ...
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Louis II de Bourbon - aka le Grand Condé If there was an award for the most gaps in a ...
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A lozenge-shaped diamond is one that is rhomboid in outline. This geometric outline is also known as "diamond" shaped, but ...
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Macle is a gemological term referring to triangular shaped twinned crystals of diamond rough. Macles are usually quite flat but are often ...
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The Marquise Cut (a.k.a. the Navette Cut after the Latin 'navalis', meaning boat-shaped) can be traced back to Paris around ...
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This diamond story is an unusual one. In most instances, a name is attached to one or perhaps two diamonds but in ...
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The term melée is used to indicate very small cut stones, usually used as side stones around a bigger center ...
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Owners of this stone ranged from the tenacious to the hapless, the romantic to the cunning. This diamond helped persuade a Queen ...
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Moh's scale is a relative hardness scale for minerals rating them from 1 to 10. The values are not proportional ...
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"Mounting on moor" refers to the tinting of diamonds on the pavilion to create a more uniform color and to hide dark ...
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Around the Same Time, Diamond Cutting Began in Europe the Indians Started Fashioning Diamonds. Who Influenced Who Here Isn't Clear ...
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A Naif is the outer surface of an unpolished and uncut diamond. When cutting a diamond a small bit of this ...
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This particular stone could be the reason for the cliché “diamond in the rough.” During its early history, this stone ...
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A natural is a bit of the naif or outer skin of a diamond that remains after cutting and polishing. A natural on ...
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Navette is another term to describe a marquise shaped gemstone or jewelry contour. Pointed at both ends with equally curved sides, the ...
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Perhaps there is no famous diamond with a more disputed history than that of the Orlov. Through the passage of ...
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Paste is a synonym for glass when used in the context of a gem material. Glass has been used as a gemstone imitation since ancient ...
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Paste jewelry is costume jewelry, mainly set with colored and/or colorless glass. During the eighteenth century with the vogue for faceted gems and diamonds, the demand ...
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The pavilion is the part of a gemstone below the girdle ...
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Pear-shape refers to the shape of a faceted gemstone that comes to a point at one end and is rounded at the opposite ...
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It is a diamond not as well known as its contemporaries. It is somewhat of an anomaly, for through its rich French ...
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With apologies to Charles Dickens, this diamond’s story could be entitled the “Tale of Two Diamonds” for its history diverges ...
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Pique is a technique in which gold or silver is inlaid in tortoiseshell and sometimes ivory or mother-of-pearl. Another meaning is the French word for an inclusion in a diamond ...
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Natural Points A Natural Octahedronby Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0 Diamonds crystallize in various forms of which the octahedral and ...
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Being one of the more modern diamond cuts the Princess Cut is often indicated as being a square brilliant but this is ...
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As diamonds go this one is pretty impressive, not only because of its size but because of its renowned quality ...
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The change in the direction and speed of light as it passes from one medium into another of different optical ...
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The ratio of the speed of light in air to its speed its speed in a substance. The ratio indicates ...
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A gemological instrument which works on the principal of total internal reflection and which is used to measure the refractive index of gemstones ...
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This magnificent gem has generated enough fodder to churn out a series of pulp fiction novels. Its travel through history is intertwined ...
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Rhinestone is the name given to rock crystal which is faceted to imitate diamond. It is also a name for ...
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Rose-Cut Diamonds: Their Beauty and Allure Early "diamond cuts" were essentially diamonds altered with only minor changes and a light polishing before ...
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Rosettes are floral depictions built up out of several diamonds. They were used to make the most out of small ...
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Diamonds tend to be described in such glowing terms as “beautiful,” “exquisite,” or “impressive.” The Sancy is that rare gem that ...
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Scintillation is the term that describes the flashes of light reflected off the facets of a gemstone as it moves ...
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Imagine a diamond where the reader is not faced with the challenge of trying to separate fact from fiction when researching its ...
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By any gemological standard, the Shah Jahan Table-Cut Diamond is one impressive stone. Like many of its contemporaries, this diamond has gone ...
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The Term Shield Cut, as suggested by Tillander, indicates all historical triangular cuts. The basic blueprint comes from half an ...
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Old Single Cut The Old Single Cut is a variation to the early Table Cuts and is encountered from the earliest days ...
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The ratio of the weight of a substance to the weight of an equal volume of water ...
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Introduction The electromagnetic spectrum is best explained with the use of an image. On the right, you see an overview ...
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Gemstone stability refers to the stone's general resistance to fading, heat tolerance and ability to withstand chemical attack ...
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Glass with high lead content. The lead increases the refractive index, specific gravity and dispersion but lowers the hardness. Strass was invented in the 18th century by ...
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Swiss cut diamonds are the late 19th-century predecessor to the 20th century Single Cut. Their crowns are built up out of a table facet, ...
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Video Presentation on Diamond Synthesis Gems & Gemology: The Quarterly Journal of the Gemological Institute of America.Synthetic Diamond:March-April 1935, Synthetic Diamonds, ...
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Synthetic gemstones are artificially created gemstones that have the same chemical build up as their natural counterparts. They therefore harbour the same ...
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The term 'table cut' is used to indicate all types of cuts that have a table facet. Cuts that fall ...
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The table is the largest facet on the crown of a gemstone. This horizontal facet is measured from corner to corner ...
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68.09 ct. Taylor-Burton Diamond, Suspended from an Oscar Heyman & Bros. Necklace. Currently Owned by Mouawad. This diamond is a stone whose ...
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To be translucent is to transmit light, but diffusely, so that objects beneath cannot be clearly resolved. Translucent enamel is used to ...
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Material through which an object can be viewed clearly, even through a considerable thickness ...
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Growth process in which a twin crystal is produced. Often seen as fine parallel lines ...
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The Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond.Image Courtesy of Christie's Images, 2008 It’s that rare diamond that could match its color to the blue-blood of its ...
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