As a man, loving fine jewellery could be an issue. How does one indulge in that world without coming across like Liberace or any other over-the-top drama queen?
We shan’t talk design; instead let’s get back to basics. picking a precious stone is the first hurdle. I love diamonds. I love their mystical quality, and how they drive ladies crazy. And of course, I love their glamour. But diamonds can be too out there to be discreet.
I nearly drove my jeweller to despair with my neurotic concerns — until he introduced me to black diamonds.
It was love at first sight. The hues fascinated me. At first glance, the diamonds looked mysterious and unfathomable, but when viewed from a certain angle, a hue of darkish grey beamed through their surface. “They are rare! And only those who appreciate the finer things in life appreciate them,” my jeweller began. It sounded like a sales pitch, but my vanity must have blurred my judgement.
I was sold.
“Black diamonds are real diamonds, let me assure you,” he continued. “It’s still a pure carbon crystal, so they call it a ‘Carbonado’. They just have a different crystalline structure from their white counterpart, with black pieces of coal imperfections in them. Because they’re black, they don’t sparkle. The stone absorbs light instead of bouncing the light back.”
These natural polycrystalline black diamonds are found mainly in alluvial deposits in the Central African Republic and Brazil. Like white diamonds, they are hard stones and perfect for all designs.
As for their value, black diamonds used to be affordable, until high jewellery makers started adopting them. Now, they sadly cost almost as much as their white cousins.
