Jewel Day

What the day is

Jewel Day is observed on March 13. The most useful thing to know about jewels is how much of their meaning was designed.

Origin and background

Diamond engagement rings were not a long tradition. Before the late 1930s they were uncommon, and the diamond market was fragile. An advertising campaign for De Beers, which produced the line about diamonds being forever in 1947, set out deliberately to establish the ring as an expected part of engagement, to attach a spending norm to it, and crucially to discourage resale, since a stone that is never sold on never competes with new supply. It is among the most studied and most successful advertising campaigns ever run, and the tradition it created now feels ancient.

The four Cs used to grade diamonds, carat, cut, color and clarity, came from the same industry, standardized by the Gemological Institute of America. They are genuinely informative, but they are also a framework supplied by the seller.

The technical facts are more neutral. Diamond is the hardest natural material, which is why it resists scratching, though hardness is not toughness and a diamond can chip on impact. Laboratory-grown diamonds are chemically and physically identical to mined ones, distinguishable only by specialist equipment, and their prices have fallen sharply, which has unsettled the industry's pricing logic considerably.

The ethical dimension is well documented. The Kimberley Process was established to keep conflict diamonds out of the trade, and is widely criticized for a narrow definition that addresses rebel financing while leaving labor conditions and state violence outside its scope.

Birthstones, meanwhile, are a commercial list. The modern set was standardized by American jewelers in 1912 and has been revised since.

How to take part

• Consider a laboratory-grown stone, which is the same material for far less.
• Ask where a stone came from and what documentation exists.
• Look at secondhand and antique pieces, which are usually better value and better made.
• Get old settings checked. Most lost stones are lost to worn claws.
• Read who wrote the birthstone list before taking it as ancient.