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essay on 'history of diamond'
research on diamonds
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The word diamond is originated from the Greek word, adámas, meaning invincible. While in todays’ time diamonds are used to convey love and wealth, diamonds were first used, about 3,000 years ago, in India for a more beneficial cause. During that time they were desired, not only for their value but for their refraction of light. During the past 3,000 years there have been many myths associated with diamonds. Some beliefs were conspired based on forms of metaphysical properties, medical treatments, and a curse resulting in the death of all who owned it.
Diamonds are credited to holding metaphysical properties of immense power and strength. In magical terms, it is the element of fire and is associated with the sun. In India they were believed to protect the person wearing the stone from fires, poisons, snakes, sickness, and other forms of witchcraft. While the Romans believed that if one was worn over the left arm the diamond would provide protection and make them invincible in battle. Others have thought that by faceting a diamond with six sides it will bring the wearer not only power and strength, but lifelong luck as well. For many years diamonds were only possessed by kings, but during the 1500’s they were used in judicial proceedings. At that time diamonds were claimed to hold a power that caused the guilty to profess the truth. To this day many practice craft with diamonds believing they hold powers of spirituality, protection, healing, and many others.
Diamonds have also been used as medical treatments for disease and common sickness. During the Dark Ages many religions, including the Catholic faith, held some belief that holding a diamond in the right hand, while making the sign of the cross would heal wounds and most sickn...
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...any today who believe Harry Winston donated the diamond to rid himself of its curse.
To some, the myths and curses of the world hold little power, but to others it formats their entire culture or religion. Over thousands of years people have formulated stories surrounding not only diamonds, but other gemstones as well. It is practiced in religious and symbolic ceremonies that we still believe in today. From offering a diamond ring as a symbol of love and unity to a diamond gift of appreciation for a sixty year anniversary we show that in some form we believe that a diamond can bring unity, love, and longevity. Although the majority of claims happened many years ago, and can be proven false today, they have helped mold the history of the diamond. Diamonds are forever; not only because they are invincible, but because they have a lasting connection to our history.
Deep within African mines, elusive diamonds lay enveloped in the Earth’s crust. Possessing much influence, beauty, and tension, nature’s hardest known substance causes parallel occurrences of unity and destruction on opposite sides of the globe. Diamonds, derived from the Greek word "adamas", meaning invincible, are formed deep within the mantle, and are composed entirely from carbon. Moreover, only under tremendous amounts of heat and pressure can diamonds form into their preliminary crystal state. In fact, diamonds are formed approximately 150km- 200km below the surface and at radical temperatures ranging from 900-1300 C°. When these extremes meet, carbon atoms are forced together creating diamond crystals. Yet how do these gems, ranking a ten on Moh’s hardness scale, impact the individual lives of millions of people besides coaxing a squeal out of brides-to-be? These colorless, yellow, brown, green, blue, reddish, pink, grey and black minerals are gorgeous in their cut state, but how are these otherwise dull gems recognized and harvested? Furthermore, how and why is bloodshed and violence caused over diamonds in Africa, the supplier of approximately 65% of the world’s diamonds? (Bertoni) The environmental, social, and economic impact of harvesting, transporting, and processing diamonds is crucial because contrary to popular belief, much blood has been spilled over first-world “bling”.
A diamond ain't a thing in the world but a piece of dirt that got
Reynolds points out that the sculpture is not constructed from actual emerald, but an alternate “deep bluish-green” stone. Historically it has been identified as an emerald structure. Not only is the representation of the Buddha important, so is the material from which the image was carved. While it is not actually emerald, the color of the image still carries significance: green is associated with fertility and renewal. Reynolds states, “…the power of such jewels to bring relief from disease, to hasten childbirth, to restore sight, to increase wealth and the like” meaning that worshippers associate the color of the jewel with spiritual power. In one account from the Buddhist chronicles, the Jewel displays its magical ability by destroying a shelter built by a ruler by conjuring lightning. The Jewel decided it did not want to reside in the shelter. In this case, the Jewel almost shows anthropomorphic power. This example provides a description of the Jewel’s spiritual quality. The Holy Emerald Jewel is more than an image, it is a sacred object that is revered for its mythical and symbolic
Jewels are ornamental object people wear that are usually made of precious metals and stones, although some not so valuable materials are used as well. Among the jewelry items people wear it is possible to find hair ornaments, earrings, rings, necklaces, bracelets, among others. People of both sexes wear jewels in almost all human cultures, countries and regions. As several specialized publications report, it seems that humans tend to adorn themselves, although in rare cases they also wear jewels by sense of shame (for example, to cover nipples). Throughout history, jewels have also served as a form of artistic expression, a symbol of wealth, as a protection amulet, among others. In turn, the term jewelry includes jewels
In “ “Blood Diamonds” and Africa’s Armed Conflicts in the Post – Cold War Era, “ Orogun (2004) said that diamonds are referring as “clean stones”. This article explains about the black market is really happening in African. I am using this article to support how the black market of diamond trades is still not regulated, and they defined it as “licit” trade.
A beautiful precious diamond can last forever, but what most people do not know is that a majority of our diamonds come from Africa. The civil wars in Africa over diamonds began around 1961 and ended in 2003. Conflict diamonds were rampant and it would be difficult to say if any jewelry sold prior to 2003 was conflict free. Conflict diamonds are diamonds that have been mined and were controlled by African rebels. The rebels would use the profits from selling conflict diamonds to fund illegal activity and to purchase more weapons for their armies. While rebels had control of the diamond mines they killed approximately 4 million people and countless families were displaced.
It’s hard to imagine that a mineral could be fueling wars and funding corrupt governments. This mineral can be smuggled undetected across countries in a coat pocket, then be sold for vast amounts of money. This mineral is used in power tools, parts of x-ray machines, and microchips but mostly jewelry. Once considered the ultimate symbol of love, the diamond has a darker story. "Blood" diamonds or "conflict" diamonds are those mined, polished, or traded in areas of the world where the rule of law does not exist. They often originate in war-torn countries like Liberia, Sierra Leone, Angola, and Côte d'Ivoire were rebels use these gems to fund genocide or other questionable objectives. Even with a system known as the Kimberly process which tracks diamonds to prevent trade of these illicit gems, infractions continue as the process is seriously flawed. The continuation of the blood diamond trade is inhuman, and unethical, and in order to cease this illicit trade further action to redefine a conflict diamond, as well as reform to the diamond certification prosess is nessasary.
Jewelry has been worn by people in almost every civilization around the globe in every century. These accessories can often tell a lot about a civilization. One can especially compare the jewelry of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome to get an accurate idea of the time period and how people's customs evolved within that area and that time. Jewelry in ancient times were very similar in that they were often made of identical materials, showed status of the people living within a society and the sophistication of the civilization itself; however, the way the jewelry was produced and complexity of the design changed with time.
The first diamond was mined in India so India was a common jewel in India. They also used seeds, berries, clay, feathers, leaves, fruit, stone, wood, animal bones, cloth, and teeth to make jewelry. It was a status symbol and played an important role in religious ceremonial practices, and traditional Indian dances. They were made for almost all body parts and for man or women since the 9th century. It was often given to the temple by royalty as an offering to their gods and was a very important part in traditional Indian dances. Jewelry was also use as protection against evil spirts. Also, women would sometimes use jewelry as financial security when they would sell
To understand the various parts and faceting structure, let's take brilliant round cut diamond into consideration.
The value of diamonds lies on their physical properties that make them suitable for many applications. Natural diamonds are only of high value if they are scarce in nature. Realizing this, De Beers Consolidated Mines was formed to control the supply of diamonds from mines across the world. The diamond market is influenced by mine production, rough diamond distribution, preparation/cutting, and retail markets. The project will be concentrating on the retail markets for diamonds and other high end jewelry.
I first encountered a lovely crystal by the name of Amethyst about 4 years ago. A friend gave it to me and told me that it would help me in this period of my life. I did not really know how or why a pretty little “rock” would help me out but, I took it with gratitude and kept it in my pocket. Sometime had passed and then I came across another gemstone. When a second stone came into my life it gave me a sense to actually look it up and find out what these stones meant and why they started to pop up into my life. During this journey, I found out that gemstones and crystals have many ancient and contemporary uses. They have much history and many legends attached to them. There are also many theories of how gemstones and crystals work, hundreds of practical applications and many lists of their healing and spiritual properties.
Looking at this artifact would allow people to believe in many people view as a good luck and accessory to jewelry. Many people use amulet for different reasons. Some for good luck or wealth. Other to grant desires and many to get rid of bad spirits.
A Diamond is one of the two natural minerals that are produced from carbon. The other mineral is Graphite. Even though both of these minerals are produced from the same element ,carbon, they have totally different characteristics. One of the most obvious difference is that Diamond is hard and Graphite is soft. The Diamond is considered to be the most hardest substance found in nature. It scores a perfect ten in hardness. Because of its hardness a tiny Diamond is used as a cutting and drilling tool in industry. Even the Greeks called the Diamond “adamas” which means unconquerable. Diamonds also conducts heat better than any other mineral .
Emeralds are one of the oldest gems in history, and have been part of many stories and legends. They have adorned Cleopatra, were collected by Caesar for their value, and used in jewelry and religious ceremonies by the Incas. One legend says that an emerald was one of the four precious stones given by God to King Solomon. The possession of the four stones was said to have given the king power over all creation. And let’s not forget that Aristotle praised the gem, saying