why is diamond most expensive among all gems ?
825778
diamonds exhibit rare beauty because of its characteristics (very high index of refraction) and every woman wants one. (diamonds ara a girl's best friend, but not mine hehe)\ndemand of the market.\ndiamonds are not found easily.\ndiamonds are hard (to cut and polish)\nand because the first one who saw a diamond thought he could make a lot of money.\n\nactually, you can grow or make your own diamond out of coal (yup...carbon)\nbut you'll have to be millions of years old to already own one...
954484
Gold is actually a consumable / commodity.\n\n75% of the gold produced is used in jewellery the rest is for industril application (Circuit board etc)\n\nThe recent price hikes have been fuelled by demand for jewellery in the far East mainly India and china, People there now have money to spend and in some cultures it is a traditional wedding gift...... Any way the demand for gold in this part of the world has greatly increased hence the s"supply and demand" scenario. \n\nQuite often the gold used in industrial processes is recycled, but jewellery isn´t, It only retains its sentimental Value and quite often people are buried with it or pass it on to there heirs. So if you bought a €1000,00 bracelet today, you would probably only be able to sell it at scrap prices, as no one wants to buy second jewellery. \n\nBut anyway,  WHAT about De beers:   Diamonds are the most common natural resource on Earth.  Yet Why are dimanonds so expensive, Well, De beers, has a monopoly on the diamond trade, if they do not control a diamond mine, they agree to buy all the diamonds, so as to restrict market supply, if all the diamond mines currently in operation were to sell openly, the price of diamonds would crash, probably making them no more expensive than the piece of quartz in your €5,00 argos watch. Hence they have to restrict the supply of diamonds to the market and actually do have incredible stock piles of the stuff, but what is interesting is the fact that the monopolies commision has not seen fit to investigate the diamond trade............. Hope this makes sense,................ and doesn´t sound too much like a conspiracy theory......\n\nremember,,,,  Paranoia is having all the facts.
1098638
buying diamonds is like handing money to murderers and slave drivers. Thousands of children are enslaved in African diamond mines and are worked to death for these jewels.\ninstead of diamonds look for a jewel that is mined here in the US where there are child labor laws.\nnot only is it morally the right thing to do, it is also much cheaper.
1186958
I know the answer. One word. DIAMONDS. lol
280737
I have bought many pieces of jewelry from Jewelry Television. They were all spectacular! You can buy huge gemstone rings for under $100, while at a mall jewelry store you end up paying five times that! They even have a 30 day money back guarantee.
773521
No, diamonds are not a good investment if you plan to buy an "investment grade" diamond, and lock it away in a dark safe deposit box. First of all, you are investing in a commodity that is controlled by a benevolent dictator (monopoly) in a foreign land. I'm talking of course about Debeers company that controls the price and distribution of over 80% of the world's diamonds. There is no free market price at the source of diamonds. Debeers sets the price and controls the quantity of diamonds available. No one knows how many diamonds are stored in Debeers' vaults.\n\nPeople who buy investment diamonds from a broker, friend or relative usually pay such a high price over true wholesale, that it might to take forever to see any real appreciation; this is especially true for those laymen who believe they really know the four C's and a lot about the diamond market. Wheeling and dealing in diamonds should only be attempted by experienced, professional diamond dealers. Diamonds pay no dividends or interest. My opinion is that diamonds are for wearing, not investing.
749335
the most expensive ones
132243
Diamond is the hardest natural material. The Mohs hardness scale, on which diamond is a '10' and corundum (sapphire) is a '9', doesn't adequately attest to this incredible hardness, as diamond is exponentially harder than corundum. Diamond is also the least compressible and stiffest substance. It is an exceptional thermal conductor - 4 times better than copper - which gives significance to diamonds being called 'ice'. Diamond has an extremely low thermal expansion, is chemically inert with respect to most acids and alkalis, is transparent from the far infrared through the deep ultraviolet, and is one of only a few materials with a negative work function (electron affinity). One consequence of the negative electron affinity is that diamonds repel water, but readily accept hydrocarbons such as wax or grease. \n\nDiamonds do not conduct electricity well, although some are semiconductors. Diamond can burn if subjected to a high temperature in the presence of oxygen. Diamond has a high specific gravity; it is amazingly dense given the low atomic weight of carbon. The brilliance and fire of a diamond are due to its high dispersion and high refractive index. Diamond has the highest reflectance and index of refraction of any transparent substances. Diamond gemstones are commonly clear or pale blue, but colored diamonds, called 'fancies', have been found in all the colors of the rainbow. Boron, which lends a bluish color, and nitrogen, which adds a yellow cast, are common trace impurities. Two volcanic rocks that may contain diamonds are kimberlite and lamproite. Diamond crystals frequently contain inclusions of other minerals, such as garnet or chromite. Many diamonds fluoresce blue to violet, sometimes strongly enough to be seen in daylight. Some blue-fluorescing diamonds phosphoresce yellow (glow in the dark in an afterglow reaction). \n\nType of Diamonds \n\n\nNatural Diamonds \nNatural diamonds are classified by the type and quantity of impurities found within them. \n\nType Ia - This is the most common type of natural diamond, containing up to 0.3% nitrogen. \nType Ib - Very few natural diamonds are this type (~0.1%), but nearly all synthetic industrial diamonds are. Type Ib diamonds contain up to 500 ppm nitrogen. \nType IIa - This type is very rare in nature. Type IIa diamonds contain so little nitrogen that it isn't readily detected using infrared or ultraviolet absorption methods. \nType IIb - This type is also very rare in nature. Type IIb diamonds contain so little nitrogen (even lower than type IIa) that the crystal is a p-type semiconductor. \n\nSynthetic Industrial Diamonds \nSynthetic industrial diamonds are produced the process of High Pressure High Temperature Synthesis (HPHT). In HPHT synthesis, graphite and a metallic catalyst are placed in a hydraulic press under high temperatures and pressures. Over the period of a few hours the graphite converts to diamond. The resulting diamonds are usually a few millimeters in size and too flawed for use as gemstones, but they are extremely useful as edges on cutting tools and drill-bits and for being compressed to generate very high pressures. (Interesting side note: Although used to cut, grind, and polish many materials, diamonds aren't used to machine alloys of iron because the diamond abrades very quickly, due to a high-temperature reaction between iron and carbon.) \n\n\nThin Film Diamonds \nA process called Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) may be used to deposit thin films of polycrystalline diamond. CVD technology makes it possible to put 'zero-wear' coatings on machine parts, use diamond coatings to draw the heat away from electronic components, fashion windows that are transparent over a broad wavelength range, and take advantage of other properties of diamonds.
784991
Synthetic diamond has been used for industrial processes for years and is now a little cheaper than natural material. It is often better than natural as the grain size and shape can be controlled. In recent years a large number of synthetic gem diamonds have been coming onto the market from Russian producers. Finished cut stones are wholesaling for something like $60 - $80 per carat.
1044909
Diamonds can make you feel really good if they are given to you as a token of love.  \n\nI wanted to make my lady feel special so I researched to find out about diamonds so I could make the right choice.\n\nThe upshot was when I presented the engagement ring, a beautiful pear solitaire just under 3 cts with perfect cut proportions, very good clarity and colour (white to the eye).\n\nWhen I gave here the ring she burst into tears, she was so overwhelmed.  At first I thought I had done something wrong but soon realised what an effect the ring had - she now looks at the ring and thinks back to that moment.\n\nSo, are diamonds a girl's best friend, my answer is they are if they come from the guy you love.\n\nPS - buy your diamonds through reputable companies, there are some good ones on the web.  I used bestdiamonds.co.uk.  The service was amazing and (for the guys) the prices are so much cheaper than the high street.
41658
Diamond is the hardest known naturally occurring material, scoring 10 on the relative Mohs scale of mineral hardness and having an absolute hardness value of between 167 and 231 gigapascals in various tests. Diamond's hardness has been known since antiquity, and is the source of its name. However, aggregated diamond nanorods, an allotrope of carbon first synthesized in 2005, are now believed to be even harder than diamond.
165956
Look at this site for all your needs of the subject:\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond
610509
If you've put this question in "Investing", then it is worth nothing.  Gemstones of poor quality (ie. poor color, clarity and /or cut) are not worth your investment unless they have something special about them - ie. they are extremely rare or they have a unique or special inclusion etc.\n\nYou haven't elaborated why you think your stone is of "poor condition" so it's difficult to say how much its monetary worth might be.  It depends largely on color, clarity and cut.  \n\nAssess your stone by asking yourself these questions:\nIs it a pure red? Pinkish-red? Orangy-red? Or does the red have undesirable brown modifiers? Is it transparent? Is it translucent or opaque?  Are there visible inclusions? Are they distracting? Do they affect the stones aesthetics and/or durability? Is it cut well? Is the stone cut too deep or too shallow?  Is it balanced? \n\nStones that are pure red, transparent, eye clean & well cut will fetch the highest market prices.  Stones with poor color that are opaque, included and poorly finished will not be worth very much.\n\nSend me an IM with an url to a photo and I'll try to help
165243
In my opinion, it depends on each individuals preference for jewelry.  GOLD seems to be the favored precious metal because of its value, both by rare availability and its historical influence to our greed and vanity. PLATINUM and SILVER comes in as a close second place.\n~meow
601338
Of course.  The diamond is the hardest substance, but definitly not the strongest.  If the diamond were on a suffieciently smooth and hard surface, the diamond would easily succumb to the pressure.\n\nIf diamonds are strong enough to hold up gross weight, how is it that we can cut them with simple hand tools the gem cutters use.  They are not.  Don't confuse hardness with strength.\n\nI think there is a story about a massive diamond found in the US that was smashed on an anvil because it was thought that it would resist the hammer if it were a true diamond.  It ended up being a diamond but was practically worthless compared to the original stone.
518908
The reason they are called "diamonds" is due to their shape. The name Herkimer originates from Herkimer County in New York State from which they are mined.\n\nHerkimer diamonds are quartz crystals. The crystals are fully formed on both ends & are said to be doubly terminated. Sometimes they have smaller crystals sticking out the sides.\n\nQuartz is one of the most common minerals in the earth's crust & is made up of silicon & oxygen. The chemical formula is SiO2. Diamonds are made completely from carbon. The only carbon in a Herkimer diamond is the tiny bits of black organic matter found in them. These are referred to as inclusions.\n\nI have one in my classroom. Kids hear 'diamond' & go nuts. I hear, "How much is it worth??" When I tell them not worth much they usually lose interest. LOL
87209
The 4 things that are the most important when choosing a diamond are the "4 C's"\n\nThe 4Cs are comprised of Carat, Clarity, Color and Cut. \n\nCARAT      \nDiamonds and other gemstones are measured in carat weight. One carat equals 1/5th of a gram. You might hear the term "points" in reference to diamond weight. There are 100 points in a carat. For example, a "75 point" diamond weighs .75 of a carat. \n\nCLARITY\n      \nDiamond clarity is graded according to the GIA Clarity Grading Scale. The clarity of a diamond refers to how clean or included the diamond is when viewed under 10x magnification. Most diamonds contain some inclusions, formed during their crystallization process. Inclusions refer to small crystalline fractures or irregular crystal growth in the diamond material, most of which are microscopic in nature and cannot be seen with the naked eye. \n\nCOLOR\n     \nDiamond color is graded according to the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) Color Grading Scale. As most educated diamond shoppers are aware, the more colorless a diamond is, the whiter it will appear. When diamonds are graded for color, it is preferable to do so against a white background so that no color is absorbed by the diamond from its surroundings. \n\nCUT\n     \nThe cut of the diamond is the most important and perhaps the most misunderstood and controversial of the 4Cs. Diamond dealers refer to cut as "make," and it is the only feature of a diamond that can be controlled by man. \n\nRemember that shopping for an engagement ring for your future wife is one of the most important purchases you will ever make (since this is the last ring she'll ever wear...other than her wedding ring of course!).  Be an informed shopper and choose wisely.