Black Diamonds: The Cool Contradiction

April 24th, 2013 by Noam Flint

Black diamonds must be the strangest of all the fancy colored diamonds colors. On one hand, they seem to be an internal contradiction, both literally and metaphorically. The beauty of a polished diamond is in its ability to reflect and refract light that shines through its interior; it is for this quality that they have been sought after for centuries. But black materials absorb all colors, and when the absence or presence of certain chemical compounds turn a precious gem black, it allows far less light to pass through its geometry.

And yet, ironically, this inconsistency does not make black diamonds any less desirable – it just might make them more so! Don’t take my word for it; try a quick web search for the phrase “black diamond”, then do the same for any other color of diamond. You’ll find that there are millions more results for black diamonds than for any other color of gem. Most of these are not news items about actual gemstones, but links to products named “black diamond” – mostly products that have absolutely nothing to do with the diamond industry!

It would seem that the human mind is tantalized by the paradox of reconciling opposites. How else can we account for the fact that some British women are willing to shell out almost $1000 on a 50 ML bottle of skin cream that supposedly contains shavings of black diamonds?

And that’s but a pittance, compared to the small fortune Hollywood stars like
Kelly Osbourne dish out on a bottle of nail polish, just because tiny specks of black diamonds are mixed into the liquid: $250,000! You don’t hear about the rich and wasteful smearing ointments on their bodies with diamonds in any other fancy colors – only black.

But while it has been adopted by copyrighters and advertising executives the world over, remember that unlike vampires, zombies, and husbands who willingly wash dishes – the black diamond is not mythical, it is very real!