Diamonds, suitably also known as ‘a girl’s best friend’, are formed between 100 km and 200 km below the Earth's surface under remarkable conditions. Within the Earth’s mantle, diamonds are formed at temperatures between 900 and 1300 C. The pressure is between 45 - 60 kilo bars; 50 kB is equivalent to 150 km or 90 miles below the surface while 60 kB is equivalent to 200 km or 120 miles below the earths surface.

Diamonds are then carried to the surface by volcanic eruptions. The volcanic magma conduit is known as a kimberlite pipe or diamond pipe. Diamonds are found as inclusions in the (rather ordinary looking) volcanic rock known as kimberlite. Kimberlite magmas that carry diamonds to the surface are often much younger than the diamonds they transport (the kimberlite magma simply acts as a conveyer belt).

To ensure they are not converted to graphite, diamonds must be transported extremely rapidly to the Earth's surface. Kimberlite lavas carrying diamonds erupt at between 10 and 30 km/hour. Within the last few kilometers, the eruption velocity probably increases to several hundred km/hr.

All natural diamonds are at least 990,000,000 years old and many are as old as 3,200,000,000 years old (3.2 billion years). How do we know this? Carbon dating only works for very young carbon, so a more advanced method of determining a diamonds age is required.

A form of radioactive decay schemes (e.g., uranium-lead) is used to date inclusions in diamonds. Inclusions used for dating are around 100 microns in diameter (0.1 mm). A diamond is the hardest gem on the Mohs hardness scale, a scale devised by the German geologist Frierich Mohs in 1812 to measure the hardness of minerals.

The weight of a diamond is measured in carats. The weight alone in a diamond is almost meaningless unless you can also consider the other methods of classification. These include: cut, clarity and colour of the diamond. A large diamond is not considered very valuable if it lacks brilliance, purity and high-grade colour. However, since larger stones are far more rare than smaller ones, a diamond’s value rises exponentially with carat weight. Therefore, a diamond weighing 3.00 carats will always be worth more than three 1.00 carat stones of the same quality.

No two diamonds are exactly alike. When considering a diamond, colour, cut, clarity and carat weight are factors to consider. Art BC’s jewellery consultants will happily give you expert advice to help find that perfect diamond, just for you.

Any piece of jewellery, whether an engagement ring, a family heirloom or sentimental piece of costume jewellery, will last many years if properly cared for. The proper cleaning and storing of your favourite piece will add years of life to the piece, save you in repair costs and potentially the heartache of throwing away a treasured piece of jewellery.

If diamond pieces are worn all day every day, thorough consideration should be given to the piece’s care. It is advisable to avoid wearing your diamond piece when doing rough or excessive work. Although your diamond is quite hard, it can be easily chipped with an unknowingly hard blow.

Diamond pieces still need attention when they are not being worn. Try to keep precious pieces in a lined or cushioned jewellery box. Try not to jumble or throw them together with other pieces, as even diamonds can scratch one another. Diamonds may become smudged, soiled and dusty. Other elements such as skin care lotions, powders, soaps and natural skin oils can affect a diamond’s brilliance and discolour the setting. Art BC Jewellery recommends a small amount of regular care – it is all that is needed keep your diamonds clean.

Art BC Jewellery recommends the following cleaning solution for diamonds:
Mix a half and half solution of cold water and household ammonia in a small bowl.

1. Soak the jewellery piece for 30 minutes then use a small brush or soft toothbrush to dislodge any dirt behind the stone and within the setting.
2. Lift out and rinse well. Pat dry with a cotton cloth or gentle paper towels.

The clarity of a diamond is based on the number, location, size and type of inclusions found in the stone. An inclusion is an imperfection or trace mineral in the stone that is visible under the magnification of a jeweller’s loupe.

The fewer inclusions a diamond has; the clearer, more brilliant and more expensive the diamond will be. A “flawless” diamond is one that has no inclusions and is extremely rare and extremely valuable.

Colourless and near-colourless diamonds are the most valuable. Although most diamonds may appear colourless to the naked eye, the majority of diamonds contain slight traces of yellow or light brown when viewed under a jeweller’s loupe.

Depending on the stone’s size, a single increase in colour grade can boost the value of a diamond by thousands of dollars per carat. A traditional diamond for an engagement ring is usually colourless or near-colourless.

In nature, diamonds can also occur in shades of red, pink, blue, green and deep yellow – these are called “Fancy Diamonds”. In the United States of America and around the world, colourless diamonds are graded on an alphabetical scale, introduced by the Gemmological Institute of America (GIA). “Colourless” or “Rare White” diamonds are of colour grades D, E and F. Diamonds of colour grade D are very rare, and extremely valuable.

Pearls have been treasured for their beauty and rarity for thousands of years. From ancient China, India, and Egypt, to Imperial Rome, the Arab world and to Native American tribes, cultures from around the world and throughout recorded history, have valued these unique, biological gemstones.

The pearl is the only gemstone that is grown inside of a living organism. Pearls are formed within oysters or molluscs when a foreign substance (most often a parasite) invades the soft tissue of the mollusc. In response to the irritation, the mollusc secretes a crystalline substance called nacre, which builds up in layers around the irritant, forming the pearl.

Natural pearls have always been extremely rare and valuable. There are approximately 8,000 different species of two-shelled molluscs, of which only around twenty are capable of producing pearls. The layers of nacre tend to maintain the irregular shape of the original irritant, and natural pearls that are round or spherical in shape are rarer still, and highly sought after.

Most natural pearls are an irregular shape and in a completely natural environment, only a very small percentage of oysters will ever produce a pearl at all. Of the pearls that are produced, only a handful will develop into a desirable size, shape, and colour - and of these precious few, only a small percentage will be harvested by humans.

Of course if we relied only on nature, the ownership of pearls would still be relegated to only the wealthiest people in the world, and pearl producing oysters would be on the brink of extinction due to over-harvesting. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, however, several Japanese researchers discovered a method of producing pearls artificially. This technique involves inserting a foreign substance, or nucleus, into the tissue of the oyster or mollusc, then returning the creature to the sea and allowing the resulting pearl to develop naturally.

This practice was quite widespread harvesting Mabe pearls. Kokichi Mikimoto is credited with perfecting the technique for artificially stimulating the development of round pearls in oysters, receiving a patent for this technique in 1916. Although patented in 1916 this technique has since been improved upon and used extensively throughout the pearling world.