Did You Know?

Diamond Facts

• The formation of diamonds began many millions of years ago.
  
  
• Diamonds were worn in battle as a symbol of courage.
  
  
• During the Middle Ages many people believed that a diamond could reunite estranged marriagepartners.
  
  
• The word diamond comes from the Greek words "adamos" which means unconquerable and "diaphanes" which means transparent.
  
  
• The Greeks believed the fire of a diamond reflected the flame of love.
  
  
• At one time only kings and nobles had the right to wear diamonds.
  
  
• A ring symbolizes eternity and its use dates back to the Pharaohs of Egypt.
  
  
• Mary of Burgundy was the first woman to receive a diamond ring as a symbol of her betrothal to Archduke Maximilian of Austria in August, 1477.
  
  
• The custom of wearing the engagement ring on the third finger comes from the Egyptians belief that the "vein of love" joined the third finger with the heart.
  
  
• Diamonds have been mined as long ago as 800 b.c. in India.
  
  
• India was the sole producer of diamonds until the beginning of the 18th century.
  
  
• Diamonds were not discovered in Africa until 1866.
  
  
• The largest diamond ever found is the Cullinan. Uncut, it weighed 3,601 carats or 1 1/2 lb. It was eventually cut into 9 major gemstones and 96 smallers ones. The largest being the pear shaped Cullinan I, weighs 530.20 carats. The Cullinan I is also known as the "Great Star of Africa" and is held in the Tower of London, mounted in the Sovereign's Royal Scepter.
  
  
• The term carat comes from the ancient gem dealers of the Middle East. These dealers used the seeds of the carob tree, which are very uniform in weight, to balance their scales. The carat was the weight of the carob seed until the 20th century when the metric system was adopted.
  
  
• 1 carat = 0.2 gram (1/5 of a gram, 200 milligrams).
  
  
• People of ancient India believed the diamonds had the power to make them invincible.
  
  
• The main diamond cutting centers are New York, Antwerp, Tel Aviv and Bombay.
  
  
• The famous blue Hope Diamond, weighing 44.52 carats, is reputed to be unlucky for its owner. It is named after a former owner, Henry Philip Hope. The Hope Diamond is on permanent display in the Smithsonian Institution.

• Gold is so soft and malleable, thone ounce can be stretched into a wire 50 miles long or hammered into a sheet so thin it covers 100 square feet.
  
  
• Gold does not tarnish, rust or corrode - it virtually lasts forever. A well-known example is the Treasures of King Tut. When the boy King Tutankhamum dies in 1350 BC, he was buried with vast quantities of gold artifacts and jewelry. Today, more than 3,000 years later, the gold is as lustrous today as it was the day it was buried with the young king.
  
  
• Nothing less than 10K gold can legally be marked or sold as gold jewelry in the United States. Alloys of less than 10K gold are not considered real gold. They must be classified as "gold filled."

• Mechanical clocks driven by wheels and weights first appeared during the Middle Ages. These were made more accurate when Galileo discovered the pendulum principle.
  
  
• Locksmith Peter Henlein invented the coiled mainspring around 1500 and used it in the first portable clocks.
  
  
• Queen Elizabeth I was presented with the first known wristwatch in 1571.

• Platinum is one of the rarest precious metal on earth and is found in only a few locations on earth.
  
  
• The first platinum jewelry didn't appear until around the year 1780 at the court of Louis XVI of France.
  
  
• To produce a single ounce of platinum, a total of 10 tons of ore must be mined. In comparison, only 3 tons of ore are required to produce one ounce of gold.

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