When you see I call myself Aprilviolet, there would be no prizes for guessing that yes, I was born in April & yes, I do like diamonds. There is much that could be said on the subject of diamonds – just think of some of the songs that were popular in the 20th century. How romantic they seem. Yet it should be remembered that dispute all the hype surrounding diamonds – they are carbon! Yes, nothing more than humble carbon!
One of the most remarkable changes in nature is that of a caterpillar becoming a beautiful butterfly. Likewise pressure changes ugly soft soot-black carbon into a diamond, the hardest occurring of all gemstones. Because of its hardness, centuries ago diamonds were not easily cut & so were more regarded for their hardness than their beauty. As an example the Bible mentioned gemstones in several places. Heaven is symbolically filled with different layers of precious stones to emphasis its beauty. By contrast the only two mentions of diamond in the Bible, at Jer 17:1 & Eze 3:9 both refer to its hardness.
The hardness of diamond is also it ‘Achillis Heel’. Being so hard it can easily shatter. Diamonds have been found in my homeland of Tasmania. Most were accidentally destroyed by the early prospectors in the 19th century. The myth was that you tested for diamond by hitting the stone with a hammer! The few that got it right knew that you tested diamond by trying to mark it with flint. If you could not mark the stone, it probably was a diamond. It is quite well known that on the Mohs scale diamonds are number 10; & therefore the only thing that will cut a diamond is another diamond.
There is much of a technical nature we could say about diamonds; & we will do so on a later occasion. For those of you who are eager to learn right away about the '4C's' follow this long link http://www.thegemlovers.com/index.php?pr=Tips_for_Buying_Your_Engagement_Ring & you'll learn some good stuff. Being so 'hard' diamonds make excellent gem stones for me as the example above illustrates nicely. To buy the above ring for any male gemlover (& don't we love them) go to http://www.thegemlovers.com/Diamonds_.php
