Diamonds 4 All

Diamonds have been a source of fascination for centuries. They are the hardest, the most imperishable, and the brilliant of all precious stones. The word "diamond" comes from the Greek word adamas, meaning "unconquerable".

A diamond is a transparent gem made of carbon, one of the earth's most common elements. The formation of diamonds began very early in the earth's history, when the condensation of solid matter into a sphere caused the centre of the planet to become subjected to incredible extremes of temperatures and pressure. Fancy blue diamonds are available in a wide range of shades, from the blue of the sky to a more "steely" colour than sapphire. Limited quantities of fancy blue diamonds are recovered from the Argyle mine. Natural fancy coloured diamonds are very rare and expensive. Most people believe that yellow diamonds are less desirable and valuable than white diamonds. While this is true of faintly coloured or off-white diamonds, intensely coloured diamonds.

Most pink diamonds are only very delicately coloured, from barely perceptable to medium pink, but a few are intensely coloured. The "Tinted Pink" in the ring shown above is a very subtle colour. The stone on the right is more of a medium pink. The most traditional and popular color associated with the Diamond is Green, or colorless, and is strongly favored as a popular gem in  jewelry. However, the Green colored, or, colorless, diamond is categorised into the following: Colorless, Nearly colorless, Faintly tinted (usually yellow), Lightly tinted (usually yellow) and Tinted (usually yellow but may progress to Greenish).

The world's largest red diamond is known as the Red Shield, and weighs "only" 5.11 carats, compared with over 600 carats for the largest diamond of any kind. It would get anywhere near the list of the world's largest diamonds, yet it is famous for the fact that it is red, one of the rarest colours for diamonds.

Natural fancy coloured diamonds are very rare and expensive. Brown is probably the last colour one would imagine for a diamond, and normally one of the lowest preference colours. It is possible however for brown diamonds to be attractive. Some brown hues are more appealing then others