As far as precious stones go, you can't get more prestigious than a diamond. Not only are they forever, they are a girl's best friend. Ah yes, the popularity of the super-sparkler is hard to beat, and thanks to massive advertising campaigns, celebrity endorsement and being a genuinely sought after stone, the diamond is one gem that will continue to twinkle upon body parts of young and old alike. There is also no particular poverty barrier when it comes to adorning oneself with glittering jewels from some of the most productive mines in the world. Thanks to continued exploration, the diamond mining industry has unearthed unexpected hoards of the precious stone, to the point where the diamond is not in fact a rare stone at all. This means that owning a sparkler has become something that is accessible to a whole section of society that previously would not have had the funds to access such opulent jewellery. Rather than killing off the demand for diamonds, finding more of them has led to a different classification. Based on the four c's - clarity, cut, colour and carat, a stone is judged to be either worth the price of a Caribbean Island, or suitable only for industrial purposes, and is priced accordingly. Many jewel quality stones that are of insignificant carat are used for drill bits and circular saw blades purely because they are not large enough to be part of a piece of jewellery. However, just because a stone is of a large carat, doesn't mean it is precious. One of the most famous diamonds is the Koh-I-Noor; originally weighing in at a massive 186 carats, the stone was in fact a massive disappointment to those who expectantly sought it out. The cut of the stone was not in accordance with the glittering ideal that most had in mind, so Prince Albert had the stone re-cut to improve the brilliance. After shaving a huge 42 per cent off, and leaving the diamond weighing a still impressive 105 carats, the dissatisfaction with the stone was still great, and so the Koh-I-Noor was set in a tiara and it's appearance enhanced by the addition of another two thousand diamonds. Since then though, the abundance of diamonds has meant that only the clearest and well cut stones are considered for expensive jewellery. A pleasant side effect of this is that the lower quality stones, although brilliant in appearance, are used for cheaper jewellery that resides within the price range of the vast majority. This proves that the attraction of diamonds is inherent within the stone, and not due to its potential value. Further evidence of this is the relatively new process of producing synthetic, or cultured, diamonds. Often this type is of a superior quality to a natural stone and is cheaper to manufacture than paying the costs involved with mining a naturally occurring diamond. The popularity of these stones remains the same as the non cultured counterparts and the difference cannot be discerned by anyone other than a precious stone expert. The nail in the coffin, if you could excuse the pun, is in the production of something known as a memorial diamond. This synthetic version is made using hair, or the cremated remains of a person or pet which is then processed under great heat and pressure to produce a stone of gem quality. The popularity of memorial stones are yet to break out on the red carpet of celebrity endorsement; but it does go to show that a diamond really can mean forever.
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