If You Dig Diamonds

If you dig diamonds, St. Maarten/St. Martin is for you. Here you'll find tremendous bargains on all types of gemstones and jewelry.

In the film Moulin Rouge, Nicole Kidman echoes Marilyn Monroe’s sentiments from half a century earlier: “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.”

The brilliant gems also are a shopper’s best friend on duty-free St. Maarten/St. Martin. Jewelers in Philipsburg and Marigot offer bargain-hunting tourists a wealth of pleasingly priced treasures.

Diamonds long have captured our imagination and heart.
Ian Fleming, creator of dashing super-spy James Bond, thought a diamond was “forever,” and the Beatles sang about “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.”

Many mystical, magical properties have been attributed to diamonds. The precious stones were thought to cure mental illness, ward off devils, impart virtue and generosity, give courage in battle and bring favorable settlements in lawsuits.

Diamonds have a certain allure, a quality that transcends time. The Greek philosopher Plato thought gems were living beings that embodied celestial spirits. The Romans believed that diamonds were the tears of the gods.

For royalty, diamonds have always held a special magic. King Arthur, for example, is said to have worn a leather breastplate studded with diamonds and other gems.

For centuries, diamonds have been revered as symbols of love and fidelity. The word “diamond,” for instance, comes from the Greek adamas, a reference to eternal love meaning “unconquerable” or “indestructible.”

The Roman poet Plautus first noted exchanging rings as a symbol of love in the 2nd century B.C. In the early 600s, Bishop Isidore of Seville wrote that the ring was given as a sign of mutual fidelity. Archduke Maximilian of Austria gave the first diamond betrothal ring to Mary of Burgundy in Vienna in 1477, 15 years before Columbus sailed the Atlantic looking for a passage to India. Today couples all over the world replicate the custom.

What Are Diamonds?

Diamonds are carbons — like the graphite in a lead pencil — formed billions of years ago at the earth’s core. Enormous pressure and heat crystallize carbons, transforming them into diamonds. It takes an average of 250 tons of mined and processed ore to produce a one-carat diamond.

Diamonds first were discovered in riverbeds in India, around 800 B.C. Since then, diamond deposits have been found in Brazil and South Africa. The South African mines were the primary source of diamonds until new deposits were found in the 1950s in the Siberian permafrost. Today, Western Canada is the world’s newest site for diamonds.

The diamond market as we know it dates back to the system put in place by De Beers in 1934. The company still holds 80 percent of the market share today.

Each diamond has its own “fingerprint,” which reveals its unique characteristics. It is the consumers’ task to weigh a diamond’s attributes and flaws and make a selection that matches their taste as well as their budget.

The key to a diamond’s value is its rarity. No two diamonds are alike. Rarity is determined by a diamond’s unique characteristics, known as the 4 Cs:

• Carat: Diamonds are weighed in metric carats. A carat weighs about as much as a paper clip. A carat is divided into 100 points. A diamond of 50 points weighs 0.50 carats.
  
  
• Clarity: Most diamonds have “birthmarks” called inclusions (internal) and blemishes (external). Diamonds with few birthmarks are rare and costly. Inclusions help cutters decide how to deal with rough stones. With the internationally recognized GIA Diamond Grading System, diamonds are assigned clarity ratings, ranging from flawless to more prominent inclusions. F1 is flawless; IF, internally flawless with minor surface blemishes; VVS1-VVS2, very tiny inclusions; VSI1 — S12, small inclusions; and I 1 — 12-12, which are imperfect and have inclusions visible to the naked eye. Slight inclusions, though they reduce the value of a diamond, do not take anything away from its beauty.
  
  
• Color: Colorless diamonds are extremely rare. Most diamonds have a color, from white to yellow, although these hues are not easily perceptible. Diamonds actually come in a rainbow of colors, including amber, red, blue and yellow — known as canary — and a shade of pink that is unforgettable.
  
  
• Cut: The cut affects the color of the gem, by altering the way light travels through it. A full-cut brilliant diamond must have at least 58 facets, allowing the stone to show its true brilliance. There are three facet arrangements — brilliant, step and mixed.
  
  

Cleaving is performed by a marker who takes the rough stone and cuts its down. This process determines what shape the stones will take — pear, round, brilliant, marquise, emerald, Princess, Radiant, heart or oval.

The rough diamond goes through a series of diamond cutters. The blocker cuts the rough shape of the stone; the top maker cuts the table; and the girdle and bottom maker cut the pavilion. The well-cut diamond uses light to create brilliance, sparkles and flashes of fire.

A diamond usually has 56 facets, but with new branded name diamonds, additional facets have been added. In most cases, these are not visible to the naked eye.

You can spend days shopping in St. Maarten/St. Martin and not visit the same store twice! So much to buy - so little time... visit our Shopping Guide and get full details about each merchant before you go. Print our shopping maps and take them with you.