In the Soviet Union the first diamond placers worth mining were revealed in 1949 on the central Siberian Plateau, which lies in Yakutia between the Lena and Yenisei rivers. A few years later, in 1954, the young mineralogist L. Popugaeva, while following garnet gravel, stumbled on a diamond-bearing kimberlite pipe diamond engagement rings , which she named Sarzina. Other mines opened up since then are the Mir, the Udatschnaya, and the Aichal. Their gangue material consists of kimberlite which, despite its many varieties, resembles the basaltic kimberlites of South Africa.

Through the discoveries in Africa the diamond trade took a mighty upswing. The find by a farmer's boy, Erasmus Stephanus Jacobs, was confirmed by the Cape Town mineralogist. Dr. W. G. Atherstone, in 1866 as the first genuine African diamond. One year later, at the world exhibition in Paris, under the name of the Eureka, it aroused t~ zrrr.ous interest and simultaneously lit the fuse of the first African diamond rush.

If the awe-inspiring miracle of this peerless gemstone is overwhelming, the adventures that some of the famous diamonds took are enthralling. Most of them originated in India. Thus, the legendary Hope, a blue diamond of 44.5 carats, believed to be identical with the Blue Tavernier, reached the court of Louis XIV in 1668. After it had been stolen during the French Revolution and probably recut to prevent recognition, it was acquired by the English banker and art lover Henry Thomas Hope. Its restless wanderings ended in 1958 when the New York diamond merchant Harry Winston gave it to the Smithsonian Institution. Also of Indian origin is the "Mountain of Light" or Koh-i-noor, which must once have weighed 700 carats. Its history can be traced back to the fourteenth century, when it belonged to the family of the Rajahs of Malwa. Wars accompanied its way to the Peacock

Diamond: King of Precious Stones

In its dazzling beauty and the unchanging stability of its value diamond is among the best known, most beloved, and most coveted precious stones of the earth. In many respects it is the most unusual and most interesting mineral within the world of matter known to us diamond engagement rings . It is unique and attractive not only as a most costly gemstone or as the hardest of all minerals—and thus the most valuable material of modern technology—but above all as the most important evidence for the constitutional and environmental conditions at the time of its evolution in the depths of the earth, which are completely inaccessible to us and will remain so for a long time to come. There Nature endowed the diamond with the preeminent properties of a precious stone

Durability: The Third Main Attribute of gemstones

Gemstones are surrounded by an awe-inspiring ambience of far distant birth and age-long past. They are timeless and never age; to them alone perpetual youth is granted. When we human beings are long dead and gone, diamond engagement rings will still be here to rejoice our descendants with their sparkle and fire. Man—who has hardly discovered any other means of preserving his memory unforgotten for posterity—recognizes in a gemstone the legendary symbol of permanence. Thus the third prerequisite necessary for these illustrious jewels is fulfilled: survival. A survival in inviolable beauty!

This enviable attribute is imparted to gemstones by their crystalline solidity, their great hardness, their inflexible resistance to chemical attack, and the color-fading action of light. They are thus proof against harmful environmental influences which might alter their luster, color, or form. The distinguishing characteristic of hardness protects them from outer damage such as scratches, chafing, and corrosion. Among their peers, they certainly recognize a respectable succession of rank, which was set out in 1812 by the mineralogist Friedrich Mohs and is called, after him, the Mohs hardness scale. Its very general function signifies that each higher diamond rings is able to scratch the lower ones. The ten hardness stages are represented by talc (1), gypsum (2), calcite (3), fluorite (4), apatite (5), feldspar (6), quartz (7), topaz (8), corundum (9), and diamond (10). Hardness is thus a diagnostic property of each stone. It is indirectly related to the chemical structure and directly dependent on the regular arrangement of the atoms. The latter determines the strength of the inner bonding forces (cohesion) and the degree of hardness. In diamond the bond between neighboring identical carbon atoms is extraordinarily strong, and the space packing the tightest possible. Therein lies the reason for the unusually high refractive index and the unsurpassed hardness of this precious stone.

It seems almost insolence that man, with his skill, should dare to attack the extreme hardness of gemstones by giving the rough plain pebbles a facet-rich appearance by cutting, thus waking the slumbering beauty within them to glistening intensity. The art of cutting colored stones, amongst which all gemstones except diamond and agate are included, requires much experience and a high three stone diamond anniversary rings consciousness of responsibility; for it is indeed costly material that must be enhanced. Most rough stones, because of their size or unsuitable form, must first be cut up. For this a metallic circular saw is used, whose edge is 

impregnated with diamond dust. The second process, the grinding, shapes the crude preform chosen after evaluating the rough stone and planning the cut. This is done on a carborundum grinding wheel. After this, the roughly ground stone is cemented on to a dop stick, whose other end is pointed so that during cutting and polishing it can be fitted into the jamb peg. The last and most subtle process is carried out on a faceting lap. The gem stick holding the stone is supported by a jamb peg and set in the correct position by the cutter. Each of the individual angle positions corresponding to the series of facets is selected by fitting the gem stick into the various holes of the jamb peg. Finally, polishing follows on the polishing lap, which is built exactly as is the faceting lap but is provided with a considerably finer abrasive. In cutting and polishing, each gemstone is individually treated, in that the material of the lap, as well as the cutting and polishing powders, must be suited to its cohesion properties. Cutting of gemstones is craft and art at the same time. It requires, above all, an ability to sense the nature of the stone, in order to shape it according to its character and endow it with shining beauty.

Ennobling Rarity

The subject of the rarity of gemstones, which so much enhances their prestige and value, leads us down into the dark, inaccessible depths of the earth's interior—to the birthplaces of the gemstones—where they were formed under the exertion of enormous natural forces. It was primarily there that the conditions critical for beauty, rarity, and durability were fulfilled; but it is strange and surprising that the majority of these most beautiful and valuable creations, conceived in the earth's womb, are composed of the most ordinary materials; namely, carbon (C), alumina (aluminium oxide, A1203), silica (silicon dioxide, Si02), lime (calcium carbonate, CaCO,), and others besides.

The Soul of Gemstones

Human feeling for beauty is an age-old phenomenon that we experience only in moments of blessed illumination. Wherever beauty is apparent to us—whether in one of Nature's creations or in a masterpiece from the hand of man—it arouses a feeling of comfort, delight, and admiration. Beauty is the symbol of the ubiquitous law of creation to which man spontaneously and immediately responds, without consciously comprehending it or being able to express it in words. Beauty rejoices the eye and heart and gives wings to the spirit; indeed, so deeply does it pervade the mind that it never reveals itself to sober reasoning.

The beauty of gemstones yellow diamond rings may display itself in completely different ways: through the clear transparency, colorlessness, and fire-scattering brilliance in a brilliant-cut diamond; the luxurious splendor of color in the precious stones ruby, sapphire, and emerald; the attractive limpidity of pastel-colored beryls; the dreamy somnolence of the many-colored tourmalines; the mysterious sheen of light on cat's-eyes and star stones; the play of color in opal and spectrolite; and no less in the fantastic patterns of many ornamental stones. In all these spellbinding manifestations of beauty, light plays the chief role. In spite of all our knowledge of its physical nature, it still remains in essence an unsolved riddle which fills us with awe.

The Beauty of Ornamental Stones

THE beauty of translucent and opaque ornamental stones is of a capricious kind, since it must emerge without the favorable combination of transparency, brilliance, and fire. While the popularity of gemstones is explained by their luminous splendor of color or varying light effects, the enchantment of design your own engagement ring ornamental stones lies in their captivating appearance and the extraordinary individuality of their patterns.