Fun, Fantastical Facts About Diamonds!

1. Ancient Greeks and Romans believed that Cupid’s arrows were tipped with diamonds! Is it any wonder that diamonds became synonymous with love? 
2. Diamonds are made up of just one element, carbon. As a result of the enormous heat and pressure existing miles below the earth’s surface, the carbon atoms bond in a way which result in the beautiful and rare crystalline structure of a diamond.
3. Diamond is the birthstone for the ‘lucky ones’ with their birthdays in April!
4. Diamonds (including the ones you might be wearing) are billions of years old - in many cases, more than 3 billion!
5. Lab created diamonds have the same physical, chemical and optical properties as mined diamonds.
6. The first documented presentation of a ‘diamond engagement ring’ was made to Mary of Burgundy (lucky girl) by Archduke Maxmillian of Austria in 1477.
7. Unearthed in South Africa in 1905 and weighing in at 3106.75 carats (that’s 1.33 pounds), the Cullinan diamond was the largest diamond ever discovered.
8. A diamond is the absolute hardest naturally existing substance.
9. Round cut diamonds have 57 facets. Facets are the surfaces of a cut diamond which refract the light within to produce the vast spectrum of colors.
10. Only one diamond in a million weighs one carat or more!
11. Only two percent of all gem-quality diamonds are flawless.
12. A diamond is four times harder than the next hardest material on the Mohs Scale - corundum (sapphires and rubies).