Natural Diamond Jewelry

Most gem-quality natural diamonds are between one and three billion years old. They crystallised deep in the earth's mantle long before there was complex life on the surface.

They reached the surface through deep volcanic eruptions that carried them upward quickly enough that the carbon did not convert to graphite on the way.

It is the fact most people find genuinely remarkable about them, and it is the whole basis of the distinction between a mined stone and a grown one.

Not in any measurable sense. They are the same material - the same carbon crystal structure, the same hardness, the same optical behaviour - and they are graded on the same scales.

The difference is origin: where and when the crystal formed, and how much of that material exists.

So the choice is about what you want the stone to be, and about budget and resale, rather than about which one performs better in a piece of jewelry.

No, and neither can a jeweller with a loupe. They are the same material, so there is nothing visible to distinguish.

Gemmological laboratories identify them with instruments that read growth characteristics, trace elements and fluorescence patterns - features left by how the crystal formed rather than by what it is.

That is routine, reliable work, and it is why laboratory reports matter more for diamonds than for most other stones.

Because large gem-quality crystals are dramatically rarer than small ones. The price does not rise in proportion to weight; it climbs much more steeply.

A stone twice the weight of another is considerably more than twice as scarce, and the price reflects that.

It is also why prices step up sharply at round weights, and why a stone just under a milestone weight can look identical to one just above it.

An international certification framework established in the early 2000s to keep conflict diamonds out of the legitimate rough diamond trade.

It operates at the level of rough stones crossing borders, with participating countries certifying shipments, rather than tracking an individual polished stone back to a specific mine.

Some producers now offer stone-level traceability as a separate service. If documented origin matters to you, ask about specific stones rather than the category.

It depends on the piece. Independent laboratory reports are standard practice for larger centre stones, and they are what allows two diamonds to be compared meaningfully.

The small accent stones in a halo or a pavé setting are not individually reported. They are selected as a matched group, which is normal practice rather than an omission.

If a report matters for a particular piece, it is worth asking about that piece specifically.

There is a long-established secondary market for natural diamonds - auction houses, estate jewellers and dealers who trade them routinely. That market is mature in a way the lab-grown market is not.

That is not a guarantee about any particular stone. What a diamond fetches depends on the market at the time, on the stone's own characteristics and on how it is sold.

Jewelry generally resells for considerably less than its retail price. We are not able to advise on this as a financial matter, and a purchase is best treated as a purchase.

Round is the most common and the most familiar, and it is what most settings are designed around.

Elongated shapes - oval, pear, marquise - read larger than a round stone of the same weight, because more of their surface faces upward.

Emerald and baguette are step cuts with long open facets: they read as clean and architectural rather than sparkling, and they show internal features more readily, so clarity matters more in them.

Some diamonds on the market have been treated - laser drilling and fracture filling to improve apparent clarity, or high-pressure treatment to alter colour.

Treatment is disclosable and would be stated. It is a stone-by-stone matter rather than a property of the category.

If it affects your decision, ask about the specific stone rather than assuming an answer for the collection.

Warm water, a little mild soap and a soft brush, cleaning behind the setting where a film of grease collects and dulls the stone from below.

Diamonds attract oils, which is why a stone that looked brilliant when new can look flat within weeks. Nothing has changed about the stone; light is simply not getting in cleanly.

Have the setting checked periodically. Prongs are the part that wears, and a loose stone is far cheaper to tighten than to replace.