Ever since I was a kid I remember the first time I saw a diamond, it was a jewelry store in Guadalajara, Mexico. Lived there until I started college in Mexico city in the mid 70's. My Mom explained to me that day that diamonds were very shiny, durable, that one can cut glass of a window with this the hardest natural substance and those features made it very expensive; and because of the clarity, and purity, this was a typical stone for women when they got engaged, and so forth. I think this was a good Geology class that started to give me my professional direction. So, the picture I had in my life for years about diamonds, was that the diamond was color-less, with a mega high refraction index, mounted on rings, earrings, or pendants, and that they were forever, very famous even in 007 movies. Once on college, I had the chance to see the first specimen, an hexoctahedron in my Mineralogy class brought to the classroom by my professor, famous Mexican Petrologist Raul Ortiz Asiain. A few days ago (40 years later), I was walking down one of the floors of the worldwide famous The Galleria Mall when I stopped by The Debeers, and I realized that the color-less are almost a thing of the past, nowadays the trend is to look for colored diamonds! I was flabbergasted! some look like topaz, or citrine, but not like diamonds. The blue ones look like a shiny topaz, or even an aquamarine, if it wasn't for its refraction, they would've fooled me. I was very disappointed, and I firmly believe that diamonds are not forever anymore! I am not even sure the colored specimens have some fake color lab-made. Didn't mean to get off on a rant, but I said it. Diamonds are diamonds, fantastic and almost perfect even in its crystallography, pursuing a sphere. Happy day my dear readers.
