Diamond is April's Birthstone

Those lucky to be born in April have diamond, the most prized precious gemstone of all as their birthstone. A fantastic excuse if any was needed to add a little sparkle to life!

But we know from our many years of experience that people are nervous about buying diamond jewelry. Many feel they could know more about this precious stone. The 4C’s are a good place to start. But below are four additional strange and wonderful facts about diamond that you may find interesting, plus an alternative to suit any budget.

1) Large diamond? Look for Certification

First to allay some anxiety, when buying a diamond, especially a larger stone, look for certification, either GIA( Gemological Institute of America) or IGI (International Gemological Institute). We have GIA or IGI certification for the stones we use in our diamond and lab diamond engagement rings, so you know the history of the stone in your jewlery and can be confident in your purchase!

2) Look for Scintillating Sparkle and Fire

Diamonds are the hardest of all gemstones and their dense and pure structure interacts with light giving them fantastic properties like fire and scintillation, emitting sparkling flashes of color and brilliant white light.

The fire in this Diamond Claddagh set is quite spectacular, with the heart shaped cut working to beautiful effect. The cut and clarity of a finished stone is important as it can accentuate these features. This can be good to keep in mind if you are buying a larger stone. However all diamond sparkles, even smaller stones. This fact is beautifully illustrated by this lovely Diamond Set Tree of life pendant

3) Be spellbound by diamonds origins

How and when diamonds formed is almost as spectacular as their beauty - natural diamonds are truly ancient stones. Most are over one billion years old and some are more than 3 BILLION years old!

They formed at incredible depths within the Earth over 150km/90 miles down, with a few rare stones thought to have formed as deep as 800km/500 miles. At such depths there is the huge pressure and temperature required to crystallize pure carbon into solid diamond. This is part of the reason why natural diamonds are rare (and valuable).

Explosive Exploration

You might ask how diamond gets from such depths to being set into a lovely piece of jewelry? The answer lies in some of the strangest and rarest volcanoes on the planet - volcanic pipes. These features are curious carrot shaped craters in the ground, formed by a supersonic volcanic eruption that rockets diamond bearing magma to the surface faster than the speed of sound, creating large deposits that can be mined.

These types of features can be found where there are the oldest rocks on Earth including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Russia and South Africa. The rarity of these features also contributes to the value of natural diamonds.

Man made marvels: Lab Diamonds

We think the origins of lab diamonds are no less extraordinary than their natural counterparts. People are now able to recreate the incredible pressure and temperatures involved in creating this stone in a controlled lab setting, effectively "growing" man-made diamond with none of the need for exploration and mining.

These man made marvels, are indistinguishable in their structure, chemistry and physical properties making them a popular choice given their main difference is on their lower price point.

4) Enjoy Diamond lore: Cupids Arrows and the Tears of the Gods

The word diamond derives from the Greek word “adamas,” which means invincible or indestructible and they weren't wrong. Diamonds are 58 times harder than any other known natural substance. So for for all their beauty they are extraordinarily hard wearing and ideal for use in jewelry.

This almost otherworldly hardness and spectacular beauty is perhaps why the Greeks referred to them as the tears of the gods and Romans believed that Cupid’s arrows were tipped with diamonds - the earliest but definitely not the only association between diamonds and romantic love.

5) CZ is an Eye-Catching Alternative to Diamond for April

Cubic Zirconia or CZ is a more affordable but equally stunning variation on the birthstone for April. The “cubic” part of the name for this eye catching stone refers to its crystal structure and “zirconia” to its composition (zirconium oxide). Want to know more about CZ - check out our dedicated guide to Cubic Zirconia.

CZ is a lab created stone so it has a fantastic sparkle with excellent hardness, flawless clarity and the best color rating of "D" on the diamond scale, making it a contemporary favorite.

Cubic zirconia even has a higher level of dispersion than diamond, giving it even greater fire with wonderful ‘rainbow effect’ flashes when it is hit by light. This makes for truly eye catching jewelry with the delight of a rainbow after a spring shower. We have an extensive collection CZ April Birthstone jewelry.