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April
Birthstone: Diamond
The
birthstone for April is diamond, which comes from "adamas,"
the Greek word for "unconquerable." This refers to the unsurpassed
hardness of this highly sought after gem. In ancient times,
April's birthstone was an emblem of fearlessness and invincibility.
Courage, strength and fortitude were attributes given to the
wearer of diamonds, and diamonds were considered to be a man's
stone.
The giving
of a diamond as an engagement ring to a woman is a relatively
new tradition, but people have been wearing them as birthstones
for far longer. Diamonds are usually colorless, however brown,
yellow, green, blue, pink, red, gray and black variations
are also found depending on the impurities present.
Diamond
has a hardness rating of 10 on the Mohs scale, making it the
hardest of all minerals. Colored diamonds are often irradiated
or painted.
Generally,
diamonds are very durable, however diamonds are subject to
chipping and fracture when handled roughly. Diamonds should
be stored separately as they can scratch other jewelry as
well as each other.
The following
are names given to other stones to imply the value of diamonds:
"Ceylon diamond" and "mature diamond" designate colorless
zircon.
"Jourado diamond" is an imitation colorless stone.
"Killiecrankie diamond" and "Saxony diamond" designate colorless
topaz.
"Radium diamond" is really smoky quartz.
"Alaska black diamond" is really hematite.
"Nevada diamond" and "Nevada black diamond" designate obsidian.
"Herkimer Diamond" is actually a naturally occurring quartzite.
Diamonds
are mostly found in Australia, Ghana, Zaire, the former USSR,
the USA (Arkansas, California, Colorado, and North Carolina),
and in Brazil.
(This
article written by Mike McGinnis and published originally
on indiasilver.com.
We encourage republication but stipulate the piece be copied
in its entirety with links and attribution.)
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