I love diamonds! But, I didn’t always think they were so grand. There was a time not so long ago, I did not buy into the global obsession with diamonds—I thought their beauty was rather overstated. Although I must admit I was often awed by a spectacular diamond dinner ring or diamond-studded bracelet, I was mostly disinterested in diamonds. Perhaps it was because I didn’t own diamond dinner rings or diamond-studded bracelets and could not appreciate them firsthand. Whatever the reason for my ambivalence towards this most coveted gemstone, I have become a believer!
In the last two years, since I began writing for BellaOnline at Jewelry Collecting and Fashion Jewelry, I have come to embrace the diamond as much as the rest of the world. I have written countless articles about diamonds and diamond jewelry, and if money grew on trees, I would be an avid diamond jewelry collector. As much as I like an icy transparent white diamond, I particularly love colored diamonds and diamonds come in a delightful rainbow of colors including chocolates, pinks, greens, reds, yellows, grays, and intense black.
Diamonds are four times harder than the next hardest natural mineral, corundum (sapphire and ruby), but it can be split due to its four directions of cleavage. Funny how having perfect cleavage is, in fact, a diamond’s only flaw. Yes, a perfect "10" (almost), diamonds are the ultimate gemstone with a broad color range, brilliant fire or high dispersion, very low reactivity to chemicals, extreme hardness and durability, and the characteristic that makes them so very expensive and desirable—rarity—typically, a single carat of diamond is recovered from a ton of ore.
One of my favorite sources for "conflict-free" diamonds is Brilliant Earth, where you will find exquisite Canadian diamonds, guaranteed "conflict-free". Every purchase includes a 'Certification of Diamond Origin' as follows:
"We guarantee this diamond originates from conflict free sources with the highest ethical standards.All Brilliant Earth diamonds come with a certificate guaranteeing the conflict free origin of the diamond. Our diamonds are tracked throughout their chain of custody to ensure that they are mined, cut, and polished in areas not tainted by war. This ensures that the diamonds are certified for their pure origin and are not corrupted by illicit or conflict diamonds. All of our diamonds are also verified to be produced with environmentally responsible methods using ethical labor practices.
While other retailers may claim that they do not carry conflict diamonds, very few have auditing processes to guarantee the ethical source of their diamonds. Brilliant Earth provides a diamond origin certification and can track our diamonds back to their source."
Diamond Issues
As part of my commitment to sharing important information about jewelry and the industry—the great news and the negatives, too—I encourage you to visit Brilliant Earth and read about disturbing issues surrounding the diamond mining industry. The following is an excerpt from the Brilliant Earth website:
"Every day, diamond diggers in diamond-rich regions in West Africa face dangerous working conditions, brutal violence, and famine, often making less than $1 a day. The economic benefits of diamonds are not trickling down to local diamond mining communities. The mining regions of West Africa remain among the poorest in their respective countries, despite their diamond resources.
Attempts to regulate the diamond industry such as the Kimberley Process remain largely ineffective to provide a better future for diamond diggers. Brilliant Earth supports creating demand for ethically-sourced diamonds as the surest way to promote social reform, providing a direct economic incentive for our industry to implement fair trade diamond practices."
Read more about this issue and other important diamond purchase considerations at Brilliant Diamonds
