the.com/gem
a rock that got compressed for a billion years and came out flawless
means A precious or semiprecious stone, especially when cut and polished — or, by extension, anything or anyone unusually fine and valuable.
from From Old French 'gemme,' itself from Latin 'gemma,' which meant both 'a bud' and 'a precious stone' — the image being a jewel swelling on a ring like a bud on a vine. The figurative sense of 'something excellent' was there in Latin too and rode along into English.
- origin
- most diamonds formed 100+ miles underground
- hardness flex
- diamond scratches everything, scratched only by diamond
- emerald flaws
- inclusions are called the garden, prized not hidden
- price trick
- diamond scarcity was largely a marketing invention
- space gems
- peridot crystals fall to earth inside meteorites
hope diamond — 45.52-carat blue diamond in the smithsonian, washington dc, valued over $200 million
koh-i-noor — 105.6-carat diamond in the british crown jewels, mined in india, owned by the british royal family
pink star — 59.6-carat pink diamond sold for $71.2 million in hong kong in 2017, world record for a gemstone