The process of preparing a rough diamond is complex, and the transformation that occurs between the time a diamond is pried from the ground and presented as a jewel is nothing short of art. The preparation of a diamond develops through several stages, and is carried out with mathematical precision. A rough diamond is, bluntly, an unattractive stone. Whether or nor a rough diamond is able to be processed into a diamond of gemstone quality is not immediately apparent. The beauty of the diamond is revealed through the cutting process, which permits light to move through the stone and reflect back out through the top.
First an expert, called a designer, must determine if a diamond is worthy of the time and expense required to transform it. The expert first examines the grain of the stone. Determining the grain of a rough diamond is a highly technical process carried out by skilled professionals with an in depth knowledge of crystology and mathematics. The lines of the grain will determine in what direction the diamond may be cut. After the grain is found, the rough stone is cleaved into smaller pieces preparatory to be sawed.
Next, the designer determines how the diamond will be processed. Every aspect of the diamond, including how the 4Cs will be affected, is considered. The eventual shape of the diamond and the quantity of finished stones to be extracted from the rough are determined. The designer does this first observation with the naked eye to formulate a general idea of the stone and assign a color to it. A second examination then takes place, during which the diamond is subjected to a minute examination through a jewelers' loupe. All inclusions are recorded at this time, in order to make a better decision as to how the diamond ought to be prepared. Once the color and clarity have been established, the designer needs to make a choice of quantity versus quality. If a diamond is determined to have somewhat poor color and inclusions, then the decision may be made to produce a stone with a large carat weight as opposed to two or more stones of higher quality, but lesser carat weight. Diamonds of flawless color, clarity and size are a rarity.
Diamonds are then marked and cut. The marker must create several plans, each considering how to best create a diamond with a high carat weight, while minimizing imperfections. It may, for example, be determined that by using a certain shape, or producing two diamonds rather than one, internal flaws could be removed during the cutting process. It should be noted that it is the responsibility of the marker to locate and document all inclusions, irrespective of any previous examination the diamond has been subjected to. Needless to say, poor planning at this stage of processing a diamond results not only in an inferior jewel, but also a loss of profit.
After the stone has been marked, it is cut. The cut is predetermined and follows a mathematical formula that allows the diamond to achieve its greatest brilliance. An ideally cut diamond has had the brilliant cut applied to it, and there is no deviation from the mathematical process. The ideally cut diamond reflects light internally so that all the entering light is reflected back through the top of the diamond.
Diamonds can be cut in one of two ways. The most traditional way of cutting a diamond is for a sawyer to utilize diamond tipped tools in conjunction with diamond dust. Today, with advances in technology, laser sawing is becoming more prominent. It is faster, more accurate, and as a result, more cost effective.
After the stone is completely cut, it must then be bruted and polished. It is during the bruting process that a diamond begins to take on its final form. When a layman speaks of cutting a diamond, they are usually referring to the bruting process. During bruting, the diamond is shaped by grinding it with another diamond. The girdle is formed and the stone is prepared for polishing during bruting. Additionally, inclusions that can be removed from the stone are eliminated at this time. When the bruting process is finished, the diamond has the basic shape that the designer intended, and it is now ready for polishing.
Polishing is the final treatment that a diamond undergoes before it is ready to be sold as a jewel. The diamond is polished in a precise order beginning with the table and ending with the lower girdle facets in the pavilion. The stone receives its final shape during this process, and the elegance of the diamond is revealed. After polishing is completed, the diamond is ready to be set and sold as a piece of jewelry.
Back to Diamonds
The history of diamonds begins on the Indian sub-continent, where alluvial diamonds were collected as far back as 800 BC. Prior to this date, there exists no evidence that diamonds were known, and they may actually post-date the year 800 BC. The Western world (and Mid-Eastern) was not introduced to diamonds until trade between the Indian sub-continent and the West was established. Relying on historical documents and archaeological evidence, lapidary scholars and scholars of the luxury trade are beset by several difficulties as they reconstruct the history of the diamond.
Turning first to the graphic evidence, a stone that may be diamond is recorded in the Bible and in documents left by the ancient Greeks. Reliance on either source is beset by etymological difficulties. The Biblical evidence is found in the Book of Ezekiel (28:13) where the word for diamond appears in a list alongside several other gemstones.
The text, however, is insufficient to substantiate this reference to diamonds. Hebrew scholars, while acknowledging that the word used for diamond in Ezekiel is linguistically similar to the modern Hebrew word, doubt whether the ancients used this word to describe the same stone.
The ancient Greeks, writing in the same era, also refer to diamonds. Our word for diamond is derived from the ancient Greek word "adamas" which translates to "adamant, hardest iron, steel". Recent scholarship dismisses the theory that this word referred to diamond when it first appears. Nevertheless, the Greek root remained, and by the first century AD, adamas was used by Pliny the Elder to describe diamonds. According to Pliny, diamonds were found in India and were the hardest substance known to man.Pliny the Elder wrote his Natural History in the first century AD, and archaeology confirms that diamonds were known in the West by this time. Nevertheless, Romans rarely wore diamonds as a gem for its beauty. When diamonds were worn, they were polished and set into jewelry rather than cut. The few diamond rings that survive are from the Late Roman Empire, dating to the third century. These rings are found almost exclusively in the Eastern Empire. The Romans prized diamonds primarily for their hardness, which made diamonds useful for cutting other stones to create cameos and intaglios.
After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, diamonds virtually disappeared from Europe until the High Middle Ages. Early church leaders associated diamonds with paganism, but it is highly unlikely that hostility from the church hierarchy accounts for their decrease in popularity. The collapse of trade routes to the East, and in consequence to India, is the most likely culprit for the near disappearance of diamonds.
Diamonds began to reappear in Europe during the Middle Ages, as contact with the Byzantine Empire and the Middle East was re-established. Diamonds were worn in the Middle Ages for their talismanic effects as much as for decoration, and gemstones became the focus of scholarly treatises that were much influenced by pagan Roman texts of a similar nature. Preeminent among such texts, the Liber Lapidarium, composed by Bishop Marbodus of Rennes described the magical properties of numerous gemstones. (These are described in greater detail in the proceeding document entitled "Legends"). Diamonds of this era are cleaved in two, as they appear only in their natural form. One such example may be found in the in the crown of King Stephan of Hungary. This regal emblem was a gift to King Stephen from the Emperor of Byzantium, presented in 1074, and illustrating both the style of diamond common at this time and the continuing reliance on Byzantium for the presence of these gemstones.
The early Renaissance experienced a revolution in the presentation of gemstones: cutting techniques developed and were rapidly refined. Previously, most gemstones were polished cabochons, now faceted stones gained in prevelance and popularity. The new cutting techniques transformed the European attitude to diamonds as their brilliance was revealed for the first time. By the mid fifteenth century Antwerp was established as a center of the diamond cutting industry.
Diamonds have inspired mystery and been the source of legends from earliest antiquity until the present day. Early texts that discuss diamonds combine mythical, scientific and geographic information as fact. Thus when one reads Pliny the Elder's Natural History, we are told that diamonds come from India, are the hardest substance known to man, and have several curative properties. Pliny's Natural History, written during the first century AD, is a prime example of how scholarship at the time gave serious thought to the magical properties of gemstones. According to Pliny, diamonds were proof against poison, nightmares and other malign forces. It was this perceived warding ability, rather than intrinsic appreciation of the diamond as a gem that accounts for the popularity enjoyed by the diamond during this time. We may safely say that diamonds, when worn as ornaments, were prized for their apotropiac powers.
Another geographer, Pausanius, wrote of diamonds during the later half of the 3rd century:
diamonds, the hardest of stones, are melted by the blood of the he-goat.".
(Pausanius 8:18:6)
After the collapse of the Roman Empire, diamonds were less frequently found in Europe on account of diminished trade between the east and west. Church leaders also condemned diamonds as icons of paganism. It would, however, be incorrect to state that the Middle Ages saw a decrease in the belief that certain stones possessed tailismanic properties. On the contrary, several manuscripts called lapidariums were produced in which the mystical or curative properties of gemstones were listed. Diamonds were among the stones listed in these texts. The properties attributed to diamonds are not dissimilar to those described by Pliny; diamonds were accepted as tailismans for good with the ability to ward off evil dreams and prevent poisoning. Diamonds were also worn by men during the late Middle Ages as amulets believed to augment martial valor. Beliefs such as these persisted into the Renaissance.
At the close of the Renaissance, increases in trade and improvements in cutting techniques caused the diamond to increase in desirability as an ornamental gemstone. The attributes that had previuosly been attributed to diamonds still retained a strong influence through the Renaissance and later the Barque periods.
Our own era has seen the myth of the the cursed diamond come into prominance. The most famous of the (so-called) cursed diamonds is the infamous Hope Diamond. The legend of the curse of the Hope Diamond is believed to begin with its theft from a Hindu votive statue. The first known owner of the Hope Diamond was Shah Jahan, the builder of the Taj Mahal. He was the first to suffer from the curse, losing both wife (to death) and throne (to his son). Shah Jahan ended his life in prison.
The curse continued, one of the next unfortunates to possess the Hope Diamond was King Loius IX of France. King Loius IX was the last of his line to sit on the throne of Frace, and was regnant at the begining of the French Revolution. King Loius was excecuted during the French Revolution; he was beheaded by the guillotine. During the the turbulent years of the French Revolution the Hope Diamond was stolen, and does not reappear until its acquisition in the 1800's by Henry Hope, from whom the Hope Diamond recieved its name. The Hope family retained possession of the diamond for several years, until they too fell into ruin. Lord Francis Hope, the last of the Hope's to own the diamond, suffered from terrible luck through his life, and eventually had to sell the "cursed" stone. In 1941, although Lord Hope had relinquished ownership of the diamond, he died a pauper.
In 1911 the Hope diamond came to America where it was purchased by Evalyn Walsh McLean. She too suffered from terrible luck: the death of her childeren and an insane husband can be counted among her misfortunes. She possessed the Hope Diamond until her death in 1947. The Hope Diamond is currently part of the minerology collection in the Smithsonian Institute's Museum of Natural History.
Legends of diamonds continue until our own time. In the past century,popular mystery writer Agatha Christie featured a cursed diamond in The West Diamond. Today diamonds are more frequently associated with love and romance, but each year thousands of curiuos tourists flock to the Smithsonian Institute to view the Hope Diamond
Back to Diamonds
Diamond History ** Gemstones by Color
Bibliography
Dennis, Daniel J. Gems: A Lively Guide for the Casual Collector.
New York. Harry N. Abrams Inc., Publishers, 1999.
Ogden, Jack.Ancient Jewellery.Berkely. University of California Press, 1992.
Phillips, Clare. Jewelry: From Antiquity to the Present.
London. Thames and Hudson, 1996.
Sevdermisch, Menahem and Albert Mashiah. The
Dealer's Book of Gems and Diamonds. Israel. 1996.
Web Resources for Further Study
The Hope Diamond
The Amercican Museum of Natural History
Prepared by
Regina C. Honan, M.A., M.L.S.