9 Amazing Diamond Facts

As specialists in private jewellery and jewellers block insurance, we love all things jewellery and diamonds, so here are some amazing and unusual diamond facts that may surprise you!

​1. Diamonds are the hardest of all natural substances – approximately 58 times harder than any other natural material. The only thing that can scratch a diamond is another diamond.

2. Most diamonds are approximately 1 billion to 3.3 billion years old, however, the oldest diamonds ever discovered were estimated to be over 4 billion years old!

​3. Most diamonds form about 100 miles below ground and then get carried to the earth’s surface by volcanic eruptions. Some diamonds, however, are formed in outer space. Carbonado diamonds are believed to have been deposited by an asteroid that impacted earth approximately 3 billion years ago.

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​4. Diamonds are made of 100% carbon. They are created by immense heat and pressure generated far below the earth’s surface. This causes the carbon atoms to bond in a unique way, thus forming a hard, but beautiful crystalline structure.

5. The word ‘diamond’ is derived from the Greek word “adamas,” which means invincible or indestructible.

​6. Diamonds are one of the most valuable and coveted substances in the world and have been for centuries. Experts believe that they were being collected and traded in India as early as the fourth century BC.

​7. The first known use of a diamond in an engagement ring took place in 1477, when Archduke Maximillian of Austria gave Mary of Burgundy a gold ring featuring an M spelled out in diamonds.
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8. Scientists have discovered a star that is essentially a diamond of ten billion trillion trillion carats.  They named the star Lucy, after the Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.”

​​9. You can create diamonds in a lab. They possess the same chemical and physical properties as diamonds mined from the earth, often making them indistinguishable from mined diamonds. Even professional gemologists struggle to tell the difference between lab and mined diamonds without extensive testing.

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