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Diamonds
are forever
...the ultimate gemwitha
long&glamorous past
By Eileen McAuley
eerless as asymbol of love, pride,wealth and power for
thousands of years,diamonds have been cherished from theP
earliest of times.
The ancient Greeks believed themtobetears of the gods, the
Romans wereconvinced they were slivers of fallen stars. It is little journey from the centre of the earth, withstanding the veryworst
wonder that the unparalleled beauty of the diamond beguiled the excesses the elements could muster and making their veryexistence
ancientsand thatthey have lost noneoftheir bewitching powers nothing short of miraculous.
of enchantmenttoday.Their extraordinarybeautysimply
Each diamond is literally as oldastime itself,havingbeentranscendstime.
formed over billionsofyears; atriumph of timeless beauty over
adversity. These most desirable jewels, thatsymbolise love theTheyalso remain verymuch agirl’s bestfriend,aclaim borneout
world over, are also the hardestnatural substance known to man.by the New York Times’ assertion that guestsatlast year’s Oscars
Theycan be scratched only by one of their own kind, whichwore more than 50,000 caratsofthe jewels between them.
addstotheir desirabilitybyhelping to ensure they maintainWhatelse, therefore, was David Beckham to buythe woman who
their brilliance.purportedly has everything for her 30th birthday butafabled pink
diamond ring,reportedly payingacool £1million. Whilstthe Bond movie thememay have seared the expression
on the collectiveglobal conscience, it was the leadingdiamondAs far as the controversial artistDamien Hirstwas concerned there
merchant, De Beers, thatcoined the phrase ‘A diamond iscould be no substitutewhen he set aboutcreatinghis £50million
forever’ in one of the world’s mostenduringly successfulmasterpiece–adiamond-encrusted skull entitled ‘For The Loveof
advertisingcampaigns.God’. The skull comprises 8,601 flawless diamonds, saidtobemore
than three times the number the Queen wears on state occasions. But the stones have been given as asymbol of love and betrothal
since long before De Beersfirst popularised the diamond
Diamonds arefoundonly in some of the most remote and engagement ring in 1938. Indeed, the firstdiamondengagement
inaccessible reaches of earth. Formillennia their only known source ring can be traced to the unionofMaximilian l, then Archdukeof
was in the mostremoteareas of India. Later discoveries of deposits Austria, to MaryofBurgundy as far back as 1477.
in Brazil in the 18th century and South Africain1866 were hugely
celebrated buthardly dented the gem’s scarcityvalue. Today,diamonds are still the mostcoveted jewel of them all
and remain afavourite of royals and celebrities the world over.
More than aton of rock will grudgingly yield less than half acarat MovieLand’s red carpet is aregular settingfor stars such as Sarah
of roughdiamondand it is thispainstaking processthat necessarily JessicaParker to displaytheir rocks, while the inimitable icon
makes them one of the rarest,most celebrated,cherished and MarilynMonroe sangplayfully,“akiss on the hand might be quite
coveted of the world’s gemstones.They have survived an incredible continental butdiamonds are agirl’s bestfriend”.
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