'Adamas', invincible

To explain the reasons for its popularity, one must start with its formation and atomic arrangement. Essential is the fact that its atoms, almost exclusively of carbon (C), are arranged in a rigid and compact cubic crystal structure, which is responsible for all its special characteristics. In fact, it is precisely because of this arrangement of its fundamental particles that the diamond is the hardest material that exists in nature, as Friedrich Mohs proved as early as 1812.

 

For diamond material to be formed, carbon must be in specific conditions of pressure and temperature. In fact, in nature, there are other pure carbon compounds that, when organized in different ways, appear in different forms, i.e. as graphite. However, it would be difficult to give a solitaire "that lasts forever" if you could then wipe it off with an eraser!

Diamond is generated exclusively in the Earth's mantle by a mostly unknown process. The only certainty is that a natural gemstone cannot be built in a day, but is formed over hundreds of millions of years. Scientific studies have proven that the youngest diamonds ever found on the surface must have formed at least 990 million years ago.

If its formation is already a complicated and noteworthy process, the rising to the surface is also no small matter. It is the violent volcanic eruptions that drag the rocks formed at a depth of 200 km or more to the surface. Thus, it is possible to find diamonds both in so-called 'primary deposits' , i.e. in dormant volcanic chimneys, and in 'secondary deposits' , identifiable mainly in riverbeds, where the minerals are dragged by the erosion of volcanoes.

 

The love for diamonds is certainly not a recent thing. In the West, diamonds first arrived after the expeditions of Alexander the Great, in the 4th century B.C. That territory, now identified as India, remained the sole producer of diamonds for more than two millennia. Although the best gems remained there, because diamonds were considered the private property of the monarchs, many others arrived on the European continent. Even the Romans were connoisseurs of diamonds, so much so that even Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia (1st century A.D.) wrote «Not only among the most precious stones, it is to the diamond that we assign the greatest value.»

Diamond's popularity probably declined during the Middle Ages, a period when people favored colored gems, to which therapeutic powers were attributed. It was only when the Serenissima Republic of Venice obtained a monopoly on the diamond trade in the 12th century that these precious minerals came back into vogue, becoming the stars of world jewelry. With the massive import of diamond material into Europe, the first experimental cutting techniques began.