A Diamond
There is no better gift than a piece of diamond jewellery as it represents love and commitment to either a lover or a friend. The Ancient Greeks and Romans believed diamonds were tears of the gods and fragments of falling stars. And it is rumoured that Cupidīs arrows were tipped with diamonds ...
When buying a diamond you will be told the carat weight. By definition, a carat is exactly 200 milligrammes. Since most diamonds weigh less than one carat they are usually divided into "points". There are 100 points in one carat so, for example, a diamond weighing 3/4 carat would be 75 points.
Be careful not to confuse the weight of a stone and its size: you can apply the same argument here as you would when buying potato crisps and "contents are sold by weight, not volume".Because different minerals have different densities a one carat diamond will have a different density than a one carat ruby. The word diamond derives from the Greek "adamao" which is an adjective used to describe the hardest substance known.
Starting in the fourth century BC, India was the only source until 1725 when deposits were discovered in Brazil followed in 1870 by South Africa, who are now the largest resource in the world.
Diamonds are now mined in about 25 countries in every continent except Europe and Antartica. Symbolising wealth, durability, status and peerless qualities, across times and culture they have also been associated with invulnerability, lightning, magic, healing, protection and poisoning!
An exotic gem formed in the earthīs interior, a diamond is likely to be the oldest thing you will ever own as yours could well be three billion years of age.
