Diamonds: Fragments of Stars

No other word can bring the description ‘romance’ into a conversation than ‘diamond’. Myths and legends abound about these brilliant gemstones. From secret valleys guarded by snakes to many millions of carats in rough diamonds every year – the story is one of beauty, endurance and commerciality.

The first recorded history of diamonds goes back to India more than 3000 years ago. However, they were not regarded then as priceless gifts. They had two purposes – as a talisman to ward off evil or simply as a decoration. However, during the Dark Ages, they began to be used as an aid against illness. Saint Hildegarde stated that a diamond, if held in the hand whilst making the sign of the cross, would heal wounds. Also, quite unbelievably, the stones were also swallowed in the hope of curing future illnesses.

As the world entered the Middle Ages, more attention was put on the diamond’s value rather than the supposed healing powers surrounding them. Diamond mine owners started rumours that the stones were poisonous to stop their workers swallowing them to smuggle them out of the mines. Many famous diamonds were discovered around these times such as the Koh-i-Noor and the Blue Hope.

The Indian supply of diamonds slowly dwindled and although smaller finds were made in places like Brazil and Borneo, the demand was by now exceeding supply. Then, in the middle of the 19th Century, diamonds were discovered near to the Orange River in South Africa and these fields were able to help satisfy the new world demand. More recently in 1979, geologists found diamonds near Lake Argyle in Australia which has since proved to be the richest diamond deposit in the world.

The diamond and its symbol of eternal love dates back to 1477 when Archduke Maximilian of Austria gave his love, Mary of Burgundy, a beautiful ring with a diamond inset. However, the idea of giving a new diamond ring is, of course, totally wrong. A typical engagement or wedding ring diamond is probably 3 billion years old and would have been formed deep in the earth’s core before being brought to the surface by volcanic eruption about 70 million years ago.

Diamonds are also formed in stars and are scattered into space by stellar explosions. Evidence has also been obtained that black diamonds, known as carbonados and found in Brazil and Central Africa were part of meteorites that fell to earth several million years ago. 2000 years ago, Romans were convinced that diamonds were fragments of stars that has fallen to earth. They were not too far short of the truth!

Which celebrity thinks that he or she has the largest diamond ever? Well, in February 2004 there was an announcement by astronomers that they had found the largest diamond in the universe. It is a white dwarf star with a core width of 3000 kilometres. It is entirely made of crystallised carbon or diamond and has a total of 10 billion trillion trillion carats! The largest diamond on earth is the Star of Africa in the Crown Jewels which has 530 carats.

So the intriguing world of the diamond holds many facets. Despite all the myth and wealth associated with the industry, it is still marked by a simple phrase of four words. Late one night in 1947, a young copywriter called Frances Gerety was working for N. W. Ayer Advertising Agency. She had been given the task of coming up with some sort of slogan for De Beers, the famous diamond dealers. She was tired, she was down and she had no idea what to give to her bosses the following day. She rested her head on her hand and murmured ‘please God, send me a line’, Within seconds, something popped into her head and she frantically scribbled it down – a diamond is forever.

 Advertising Age Magazine called it the greatest advertising slogan of the 20th Century.