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Home / Exhibits / Special Exhibits
Facet Facts
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Cartier
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Most diamonds are over 3 billion years old; two-thirds are the age of the Earth. There are a few “youngsters,” though, which are only 100 million years old.
Most diamonds were formed more than 100 miles below the surface of the Earth, some at depths of up to 400 miles.
Although diamonds are perceived as a white — actually colorless — gem, they come in a spectrum of colors; colored diamonds are called “fancies.”
Some diamonds are composed of carbon that is recycled organic matter, previously incorporated in marine organisms.
“One-hour eye-glasses” have only become possible with the use of diamond tools, which can quickly and accurately shape the lenses.
Because diamonds can withstand extremely high temperatures and corrosive conditions, and because they are transparent to most forms of light and electromagnetic radiation, they are ideal for use as windows in industry and in space probes.
Every copper wire in your computer, television, and house has been shaped with a dye — the device that squeezes wire to the desired diameter — made from diamond.
Diamond scalpels are particularly effective because their sharp, hard edges never dull, and because diamond’s hydrophobic surface — its resistance to being wetted — ensures that wet tissue does not adhere to the blade.
Culture of Diamonds
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Photo © Royal Ontario Museum
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India was the only known source of diamonds before the sixth century, and the predominant source for over 2,000 years, until the mid-eighteenth century.
Romans believed that diamonds had the power to ward off evil and wore them as talismans. They inherited this belief from Indian mythology.
A law in thirteenth-century France decreed that only the King could wear diamonds.
Diamonds were not used as gems in European jewelry until the late thirteenth century. They were initially used for such purposes as engraving other gems, such as sapphire cameos, and for drilling holes in hardstone beads (such beads, drilled by diamonds, have been dated to archaeological sites as early as 400 BCE).
The most recent diamond discoveries have been made in North America — in the Northwest Territories of Canada and in Colorado — where explorers found diamond pipes in 1990.
The largest rough diamond ever found was the Cullinan, 3,106 carats, discovered on January 26, 1905, in the Premier mine of South Africa. It was cut into 9 major stones, including the largest gem diamond, the Cullinan I, or Star of Africa, 550.20 carats. This is mounted in the British Royal Scepter and housed in the Tower of London.
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