What is the birthstone for April-
The birthstone for April is diamond. And along with emerald ruby and sapphire are classed by gemologists as the big four.
Diamonds with their translucent and radiant tones are said to denote life, elation and purity. However April’s birthstone comes in a myriad of shades other than the clear white that most people think of. Some of the shades and colors that occur in diamonds include pinks, yellows, light blues, and even black.
Along with the traits mentioned above, Diamond also represents, joy and innocence, furthermore it is believed that some of cupids, magical arrows were tipped with diamonds.
With cupid being the god of love, desire, attraction and affection, the connection towards cupid is surely significant to the belief, many societies throughout
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history have held, that diamonds are the gemstones of love. Diamonds are mined in many countries including, south Africa, Australia, Canada, India, Brazil and Russia. Among notable famous April birthdays are, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, who was born on 21 April 1926. Coincidently, Queen Elizabeth the present UK monarch will be celebrating, as of 9th of September 2015, the longest reign of a British monarch, Her Majesty will surpass the reign of Queen Victoria who ruled for 63 years, seven months and two days. During Elizabeth’s coronation ceremony the queen would have worn the crown and held the sovereigns sceptre both of which are adorned with birthstones from the same month of her birth. The sovereign’s sceptre, as part this glorious regalia, is mounted with the largest colorless cut diamond in the world, Cullinan 1, now renamed as the ‘first star of Africa’. Also in the crown jewels sits another huge diamond that was sliced from the original Cullinan diamond this now adorns the Imperial State Crown, this second in size cut gem was called Cullinan 2 and then referred to as the ‘second star of Africa. (Not so original with the naming of these magnificent gems were they). You can read more on the Cullinan diamond further down this page. Diamonds have long since been very popular and are often mentioned and appear in many paintings, books, and religious scripter.also in songs such as Marilyn Monroe’s iconic and playful rendition of ‘Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend’ from the 1953 movie ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’. And who can forget Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey singing with gusto ‘Diamonds are forever’ the theme tune from the James bond movie of the same name staring Sir Sean Connery.
The song surly references the fact diamonds are an extremely tough and durable element, in fact diamonds are not only the hardest gemstone they are also the hardest natural substance on earth.
Because of diamonds renowned strength it is used in many engineering situations including tools used for cutting, drilling, and grinding even for the stylus needles used to play vinyl records in turntable record players (remember them ?).
We now know that the birthstone for April is diamond and as mentioned early we talked about the Cullinan Diamond which has been incorporated into the crown jewels of the United Kingdom. Let’s now look deeper into an extraordinary example of one of nature’s wondrous birthstones the..
The Cullinan Diamond
The illustrious Cullinan Diamond is the biggest white (clear) diamond that has ever been found.
With a weight of over 3000 carats in its uncut state and more than 10cm (4 inches) in length, it is famous for its dimension, its astonishing blue white shade and excellent
clarity. The Cullinan Diamond was revealed in January, 1905 at the Premier Mine in South Africa and given the name of the chairman of the mining company, Thomas Cullinan. A few years later this glorious gem was officially bestowed to King Edward VII in 1907 as sign of devotion by the government of Transvaal, who was at the time a British colony but later became South Africa. The diamond was presented to the king in its unprocessed state so it was decided to entrust the cutting and faceting of this large gemstone to the most prodigious diamond specialists, and so the distinguished company of I.J. Asscher of Amsterdam got the task. Starting in February 1908 the lapidary experts spent a meticulous eight months of exertion on the diamond. Joseph Asscher had the unnerving task of splitting the stone, this being a very difficult and crucial part of the process one wrong move and the diamond could shatter, followed subsequently, by three polishers who cut, ground and polished. After all the lapidist work was finish they were left with nine main gemstones, 96 small brilliants (cut in a exact form with many facets) and nine carats of unpolished chips. The nine main finished diamonds where numbered Cullinan 1 through to 9 with Cullinan 1 and 2 still, after all the cutting, being the largest cut and flawless diamonds on the globe. The Cullinan 1 and 2 diamonds where later renamed. Cullinan 1, became the’ First Star of Africa ‘and was mounted on ‘The Sovereign's Sceptre’ And Cullinan 2 became the ‘Second Star of Africa’ and is mounted in the ‘Imperial State Crown’. Both crown and sceptre now form part of the British Crown Jewels and are sometimes used to mark official ceremonies. So we have taken a look into what is the birthstone for April and found out some of its links to love and royalty, let’s now glimpse into the world of another of the big four and find out what is the birthstone for May.
Deep within African mines, elusive diamonds lay enveloped in the Earth’s crust. Possessing much influence, beauty, and tension, nature’s hardest known substance causes parallel occurrences of unity and destruction on opposite sides of the globe. Diamonds, derived from the Greek word "adamas", meaning invincible, are formed deep within the mantle, and are composed entirely from carbon. Moreover, only under tremendous amounts of heat and pressure can diamonds form into their preliminary crystal state. In fact, diamonds are formed approximately 150km- 200km below the surface and at radical temperatures ranging from 900-1300 C°. When these extremes meet, carbon atoms are forced together creating diamond crystals. Yet how do these gems, ranking a ten on Moh’s hardness scale, impact the individual lives of millions of people besides coaxing a squeal out of brides-to-be? These colorless, yellow, brown, green, blue, reddish, pink, grey and black minerals are gorgeous in their cut state, but how are these otherwise dull gems recognized and harvested? Furthermore, how and why is bloodshed and violence caused over diamonds in Africa, the supplier of approximately 65% of the world’s diamonds? (Bertoni) The environmental, social, and economic impact of harvesting, transporting, and processing diamonds is crucial because contrary to popular belief, much blood has been spilled over first-world “bling”.
Should diamonds be seen as such highly sought-after, luxury goods, and marketed and sold at such extravagant amounts? While some individuals might be of the impression that diamonds are lavishly priced, because of limited supply, it is of my opinion that a very shrewdly-created cartel disguises the very reason for these “rare” gems seemingly being worth your “pretty penny”.
About status within your peer group. Even people on low monthly salaries would buy a high quality diamond: it was a family driven purchase.
It’s hard to imagine that a mineral could be fueling wars and funding corrupt governments. This mineral can be smuggled undetected across countries in a coat pocket, then be sold for vast amounts of money. This mineral is used in power tools, parts of x-ray machines, and microchips but mostly jewelry. Once considered the ultimate symbol of love, the diamond has a darker story. "Blood" diamonds or "conflict" diamonds are those mined, polished, or traded in areas of the world where the rule of law does not exist. They often originate in war-torn countries like Liberia, Sierra Leone, Angola, and Côte d'Ivoire were rebels use these gems to fund genocide or other questionable objectives. Even with a system known as the Kimberly process which tracks diamonds to prevent trade of these illicit gems, infractions continue as the process is seriously flawed. The continuation of the blood diamond trade is inhuman, and unethical, and in order to cease this illicit trade further action to redefine a conflict diamond, as well as reform to the diamond certification prosess is nessasary.
(“Native American Beadwork”). Although many forms of beads have been found at archeological sites over the past hundred years, the oldest known bead came from a site in Tule Springs, Nevada. This bead, which was constructed of a material known as white caliche or, a “sedimentary rock made from hardened calcium carbonate”, dates back to 11,000 B.C.
Traditionally, and to this day, rings also indicate love and affection. The most common and widespread form of this is, of course, the wedding or engagement ring. This is not a tradition divorced from the symbolism of wealth or power, however, especially in the context of the text — in Shakespeare's time, wedding rings were a tradition mostly confined to the upper merchant and noble classes, since the poor simply could not afford them.
makes diamonds valuable, and why do we revere them so much? “…diamonds have meant different things to different societies. Until the 15th century, they were seen by leaders as symbols of supreme strength. The name itself comes from the Greek word "adamas", meaning indestructible. The Greeks were a romantic sort, and for them the dancing sparkle of the diamond was the sign of the extinguishable flame of love” add (Savage, 2008). Diamonds are now easily accessible to us and all we have to do is visit the nearest jewelry store with deep pockets. However, we have no knowledge about where those diamonds came from.
Only a small amount of natural resources have captured the attention of the world as much as blood diamonds have (Goreux). Conflict or "blood" diamonds are immorally mined and traded diamonds used to fund conflict in war-torn areas, mainly in Africa (Armstrong). Blood diamonds are detrimental because countries in Africa with a lot of these mines are often troubled by violence. The rebels who enforce said violence treat the workers so poorly that it’s even to the point of torturing and killing them. This blood diamond mining has led to over 3 million deaths in total (Statistic Brain). This is why they are called 'blood' diamonds, because they are stained with the blood of the workers who suffered in order to get them.
Engagement rings initially served a double purpose. In the days when brides were purchased, these rings were partial payment for the bride in addition to symbolizing the groom's intentions and woman's agreement. Diamonds were first found in Medieval Italy and due to their hardness symbolized enduring love.
Santarossa, B. (2004, January 13). Diamonds: Adding lustre to the Canadian economy. Retrieved November 06, 2017, from https://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11-621-m/11-621-m2004008-eng.htm
The third determinant of the diamond – related and supporting industries looks at the industry suppliers and...
I have chosen to talk about precious gemstones and crystals. There are many people now and days rediscovering the many uses of gemstones and crystals. To my knowledge each, have many different uses. They can be used as adornments, for health, for healing and for spiritual practices. You have probably never even heard of stones or crystals in this fashion before. I am going to take this opportunity to tell you what I know about this fascinating world that I have grown very accustomed to. I am not a gemstone/crystal specialist but, I do know enough about this topic to give you a slight overview about this topic.
A Diamond is one of the two natural minerals that are produced from carbon. The other mineral is Graphite. Even though both of these minerals are produced from the same element ,carbon, they have totally different characteristics. One of the most obvious difference is that Diamond is hard and Graphite is soft. The Diamond is considered to be the most hardest substance found in nature. It scores a perfect ten in hardness. Because of its hardness a tiny Diamond is used as a cutting and drilling tool in industry. Even the Greeks called the Diamond “adamas” which means unconquerable. Diamonds also conducts heat better than any other mineral .
This is a list gemstones and the meaning behind each one. Ruby is traditionally red and is symbolic of courage, life force, and passion. Amethyst is a myriad of colors with purple predominantly and is renowned for protection, cleansing, and healing. Emerald is known for its rich green variations and is associated with love, rebirth, and fertility.
The value of diamonds lies in their physical properties that make them suitable for many applications. Natural diamonds are only of high value if they are scarce in nature. Realizing this, De Beers Consolidated Mines was formed to control the supply of diamonds from mines across the world. The diamond market is influenced by mine production, rough diamond distribution, preparation/cutting, and retail markets. The project will be focused on the retail markets for diamonds and other high-end jewelry.