A diamond called Eureka

South Africa, in 1867.

In the Jacobs’ family farm, on the Orange River, the children loved to play a game they called “five stones”. In their collection they had a brilliant stone which had been found by Erasmus, the older brother, on the river bank. “When it gets dark, it sparkles like a fire” – told to everyone the mother. The curiosity to discover the nature of that brilliant stone show the way to modern industry of diamonds: that stone was named Eureka!

If you have some diamond jewelry in your home, all started during those days in South Africa. Diamond was already known, Plinio the Elder, two thousand years ago, considered it the strongest and hardest natural material. As describes the etymology of its name (from the greek “Adamas”) diamond has always been considered a mythical object, a symbol of power and invulnerability, the materialization of the concept of power. But for that reason it was reserved for nobles and aristocrats, until the discovery of the diamond named “Eureka”!

Diamond is a material as old as the Earth, even on some meteorites were found fragments dated beyond our planet, but until the end of 1800, only India and Brazil were known for the presence of open mineral deposits. The gems were rare and few of them reached Europe from India, while the discovery of diamond Brazilian mines allowed more precious stones although limited to the royal and the rich people.

With the “run to diamond” in South Africa, the quantity of diamonds available in the market soon reached high quantities giving rise to the current industrial model where in recent years is taking place the greatest disclosure of transparency and efficiency.

The world of diamonds is unknown to most people without exploiting the potential of this material, as well as being the ornament most desired by women, it is essential for many applications in industry and technology. It ‘a wonderful world, even if full of contrasts, where the beauty of this gem is often contrasted with the hard living conditions of the environments in which we find them, but, often, without knowing that the African countries that have suffered the worst violence to get manufacturing diamonds, now they have the best forecasts for development and political stability of the entire continent like Angola, Namibia and Botswana.

All processes which are behind the chain value of diamonds are not known … imagine that all diamonds – also those extracted in India two thousand years ago – should be still in the market from the youngest 900,000 years diamonds, up to 3 billion years for the oldest ones… and while we are presenting the most innovative and safe systems to buy diamonds for investment, we will try to unveil each step that creates value in the diamond supply chain, to allow you to acquire a basic knowledge to appreciate and enjoy your experience of owning a diamond: the most precious commodity of the world!