Interview: Robert Weldon

Why we love them Diamonds help us celebrate loving and joyous occasions — betrothals, weddings, anniversaries, births and birthdays. They can also mark a moment of self-fulfillment and accomplishment. Once the purview of the ultra-wealthy or royalty, diamonds have been democratized. Diamonds are unexpected gems. Though it’s extremely rare, diamonds can be red, orange, yellow, green, blue, grey, violet — with hundreds of variations in between. A history of symbolism Diamonds have been appreciated for thousands of years. They were believed to imbue the wearer with the gems’ own characteristics. In India, people who wore diamonds were assured of having a long life, physical endurance, and beauty. Perhaps because of this, diamonds remain a symbol of love in many societies around the world. In a class by themselves Rarity, hardness, brilliance and scintillation are all aspects that we appreciate in diamonds…. Other gems are appreciated for different reasons, but principally for their depth of color. For example, the rarity and beauty of rubies, emeralds and sapphires are also remarkable attributes. Iconic examples Different people will have varying opinions, but I believe these five diamonds stand out for their unique history, their iconic status, their singular size or color, and for the people who loved them: The Great Mogul, Hope Diamond, Cullinan, Dresden Green and Hancock Red. Fascinating facts While we know about the hardness — 10 on the Mohs hardness scale — many people do not realize that diamonds are also great conductors of heat. This allows them to be used in tooling, such as cutting, grinding and drilling, where extreme heat or pressure will not cause them to disintegrate. Diamond powder is successfully used to preform and polish other colored gemstones. Personal meaning Aside from their beauty and reflective characteristics, I am awed by a diamond’s sense of permanence. Diamonds can be passed on to family members for generations, and by this simple act, family history is conveyed with the glittering gem. This is how people’s relationship with diamonds is constantly reaffirmed.

Who is Robert Weldon?

Robert Weldon started his career at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) in the 1980s after receiving his Graduate Gemologist (GG) diploma. Currently director of the GIA’s Richard T. Liddicoat Gemological Library and Information Center, he was a senior editor at JCK magazine in the 1990s, where he wrote about colored gemstones. He later joined Professional Jeweler (USA) magazine before returning to the GIA in 2006. His photographs and articles have been featured in numerous international gemological, jewelry and consumer publications. gia.edu/library

By the book

A new monograph explores the wide world of diamonds    Written by experts in their respective fields and lavishly illustrated, the monograph Diamond focuses on the history, mineralogy, geology, localities, culture, uses and aesthetics of diamonds. As one of the advisers to the project, Robert Weldon “contributed his brilliant photographs to the book,” publisher Gloria Staebler says.    Diamond is the 19th volume in a mineralogical monograph series Staebler co-founded in 2001 to showcase different mineral species or mineral-rich localities. Contributors to the book include “diamond luminaries” such as Nick Norman, Katherine Dunnell, John I. Koivula, Dr. Bram Janse, and Dr. James Shigley.    “Since the beginning of time, man has collected, traded, fashioned tools from, and adorned himself and his environment with interesting and colorful stones of all kinds. But diamonds hold a special power; maybe there is something in them that appeals to our natural, simplest, purest, most beautiful selves,” Staebler muses. “A diamond is as unique as a snowflake but is far more resolute.”

Photo: Alamy Stock Photo