- On average, diamonds are 3.4 billion years old.
- Most diamonds were formed more than 100 miles below the surface of the Earth, some from 400 miles down.
- Diamonds are carried to the surface by volcano eruptions. The volcanic magma conduit is known as a kimberlite pipe or diamond pipe. The most recent kimberlite volcano eruption was approximately 53 million years ago.
- Diamond is the hardest natural substance found on the earth.
- To produce a single one-carat diamond, 250 tons of earth will be mined.
- Only 20 percent of the diamonds mined in the world are of gem quality diamonds.
- Australia accounts for producing the most diamonds in volume.
- America buys more than half of the worlds total gem quality diamonds, accounting for the worlds largest diamond market.
- Diamonds come in a spectrum of color. Colored diamonds are called fancies. Blue and pink
diamonds are among the rarest, yellow and brown as among the most common.
- The most recent diamond discoveries were made in North America – in the Northwest Territories of Canada and in Colorado.
- The largest rough diamond ever found was the Cullinan, 3,106 carats, discovered in January 26, 1905 in the Premier mine of South Africa. It was cut into 9 major stones, including the largest gem diamond, the Cullinan I, or the Star of Africa, 550.20 carats. This is mounted in the British Royal Scepter and housed in the Tower of London.
- The largest diamond ever found in the US was discovered in 1924 in The Crater of Diamonds State
Park in Arkansas the Uncle Sam Diamond that weights 40.23 carats.
- The most publicized romantic diamond gifts in modern times have been the jewels given by Richard Burton to Elizabeth Taylor. These include a 33 carat diamond worth over $14 million and the pear shaped 69 carat Taylor-Burton diamond.
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