Diamonds - The Fires of Creation Captured in a Matchless Gem

The fires of creation captured in a matchless gem.

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Timeless and eternal.

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Born billions of years ago in the fiery depths of the earth at the very dawn of creation the diamond remains man’s most enduring treasure.

Timeless and eternal it is nature’s most precious gift containing all the power and beauty, all the marvel and mystery of our planet’s elemental forces. No other gem can equal the magical appeal of the diamond, which has remained supreme as the ultimate symbol of love, power and success since civilisation began.

All the colours of life.

Diamonds are also astonishing in the extraordinary range of colours with which nature has endowed them. From almost priceless and rare blues and reds to subtle and sophisticated tones that reflect the hues of nature from earthy browns and sun filled olives to rich and romantic pinks and violets. All the colours of life are yours to choose from as varied and as sparkling fresh as a spring morning.

It was often the sublime capriciousness of nature that decided what magical combination would result in which colour. Whilst most diamonds you have seen would have been a subtle, often unnoticeable, degree of pure white, others will sing with a beauty and depth of colour unmatched by any other gem.

Every diamond is unique and special and holds a fascination that has enchanted men and women down the ages. To look into the heart of a diamond is to see forever the very soul of the universe.

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The ultimate celebration of love.

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Yielded up from the cauldron of creation it contains an inner fire that for countless generations almost perfectly has reflected the power and passion of love. Small wonder that over the centuries it has established a unique place in almost every culture as the most enduring and romantic symbol of love.

Above all else, its brilliance and beauty speak so perfectly to a woman’s soul it is the one gift that says all that the heart feels more eloquently than any words.

The perfect reflection of a woman’s success.

Diamonds are also the world’s most perfect reflection of woman’s myriad achievements in our modern world. It is the one gem that, more than any other, can so completely mirror her confidence, the radiance of her personality and her style.

So much so that more and more self assured and successful women of all ages are buying their own diamonds and wearing them with boundless pleasure and pride.

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Where diamonds are found.

Whilst diamonds are now mined on every continent on earth, it requires unique and very rare geological conditions for them to be found and then recovered from the rocks in which they have lain hidden, for up to three billion years. That is why so very few diamonds of true gem quality have ever been mined in man’s history and the search for new sources can take decades and cost billions of dollars.

How diamonds were created.

Diamonds were formed deep within the earth when our world began. They are the result of immense pressure on carbon and often other minerals and gasses that miraculously transform them into a treasure beyond compare and the hardest substance known to man. The young diamonds were then forced up to the planet’s surface by volcanic action. The cauldron of molten lava in which they were transported then cooled trapping them in what is known as kimberlite pipes until released by man from their rocky prison.

However over the millennia some kimberlite pipes were eroded by weather and the diamonds therein washed down rivers into the sea. That is why diamonds are also to be found in some riverbeds, lakes and on the coast, of largely African countries.

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The diamond’s beauty revealed.

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The distillation of nature’s majesty is only fully realised when the diamond has been cut and polished by craftsmen and women upon whose skills depends the almost mystical release of its full beauty and perfection. To gaze into the heart of a perfectly cut diamond is to glimpse eternity and the secrets of the universe in its almost stellar brilliance.

As with all things created by man some diamonds are better cut than others and the better the cut the more it will be filled with the radiance and fire you should demand. Happily you can be certain that in buying a diamond carefully selected and brought to you by your trusted Nationwide jeweller, you are purchasing one of the finest cut gems available in the world.

When you become the owner of a diamond you know that you will be gazing into the soul of the ultimate gem; a diamond that has been cut and then polished to perfection. Not just with outstanding care, but also with real love, as our team of dedicated craftsmen and craftswomen will proudly tell you.

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Diamonds, an inspiration.

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So powerful is the magic of diamonds, so strong their enchantment, it is no wonder that our family of craftsmen and women devote so much love and energy to the creation of polished diamonds of exceptional quality.

Our range of cuts is also remarkable from our version of the heart-stoppingly beautiful Hearts and Arrows to unique creations that have transformed the concept of scintillation. Our special skill is the art that adds new depth and radiance to almost every diamond we cut so that it blinds you with its brilliance.

Our reward is always and forever the very special thrill you will experience that comes from the sparkle and fire of the one and only gem that has entranced men and women down the ages. It is for us a constant delight and pleasure that makes our work so rewarding and fulfilling.

From the transformation of the rough stone into a rare gem, diamonds are our life. Whether it is the simple and beautiful pure white solitaire or a set of three perfectly matched natural fancies in voluptuous violet, Nationwide is not just dedicated but also passionate about this ultimate gift of love and king of gems.

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Choosing the diamond born for you.

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Diamonds are rare because they are so hard to find and so difficult to mine. They are also so incredibly valuable not just because of their rarity but because the sheer magnitude of the investment in bringing them to you is such that it’s a miracle that they are not more costly than they are.

It takes, on average, over ten years to find a diamond source and can cost over one hundred million dollars to bring that source into production. Even then there is absolutely no guarantee that the diamonds recovered will be beautiful enough to cut and polish into gems worthy of offering to you.

Of the diamonds themselves, there are no two alike. Each is totally unique and each carries nature’s delicate fingerprint whether it is in the colour, the microscopic particles with which chance endowed it, or the size.

It is almost always a combination of one or other of these factors that make your choice so exciting. Whether you want the pure ethereal beauty of unblemished white, or your mood and personality make you fall in love with any one of the rainbow of colours from which you can select, there is a diamond just for you.The four most

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Cut colour clarity carat weight.

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popular factors used throughout the world to measure diamond quality are cut, colour, clarity, and carat weight. Nature dictates the characteristics of the diamond’s colour, clarity and carat, while the human hand directly influences cut. Although the 4C’s provide scientific guidelines for evaluating diamond quality and thus value, they do not necessarily measure a diamond’s beauty.

Cut Cut refers to the angles and proportions a skilled craftsman or woman creates in transforming a rough diamond into a polished diamond. It is the cut that particularly distinguishes the intensity and fire that will thrill both the giver and the receiver and generations yet to come.

A well-cut diamond will reflect light internally from one mirror-like facet to another, dispersing it through the top of the stone. Cuts that are too deep or too shallow lose or leak light through the side or bottom, affecting the diamond’s brilliance.

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Crown

Girdle Pavillion

Pavillion

Table

Star-facet Lower Girdle Facet

Bezel Upper Girdle Facet

Cut is the only one of the 4C’s that is influenced by man, so that in many ways the cut is the most important element you should ever consider when making your choice.

The rest (colour, clarity, and carat weight) are created naturally as diamonds were formed in the earth.

Diamond cutting requires great skill and training. The cutter must polish tiny surfaces known as facets onto the rough diamond. This process is what creates the facets known as the crown, culet, table, girdle and pavilion of the diamond.

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Colour Every natural diamond possesses its own astonishing beauty and mystique and there are no hard and fast rules for what colour makes a diamond beautiful. While traditional colourless and white diamonds have long been considered the ultimate symbol of love and romance, natural coloured diamonds are equally beautiful and the perfect expression of your personal passions. Colourless diamonds are extremely rare and therefore very valuable, and yes, there are also some extremely rare and expensive coloured diamonds that only seem to be attainable by the rich and famous.

However, the good news is that a full spectrum of natural coloured diamonds exists in a wide variety of colours, shades, and prices that now make them an attractive option for your diamond jewellery. From Classic Whites to Autumn Golds and Sensual Browns all the colours of life are there for you to choose from. This is because billions of years ago the Earth’s core was a boiling cauldron of volcanic activity, and conditions of extreme temperature and pressure converted pure crystalline carbon into what we now know as diamonds. As the material cooled and hardened, traces of minerals and gasses melded with the magma in which some were formed, transforming them into nature’s most beautiful, and colourful masterpieces. Traditionally diamonds are graded on a colour scale established by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), ranging from D (colourless) to Z.

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courtesy of

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Clarity Diamonds are nature’s most wonderful gift and their infinite variety results from the fingerprints with which nature has endowed them. Sometimes called inclusions, these minute traces of minerals, gases or often, beautiful internal fractures such as ‘feathers’, are what gives each stone its very own character and personality making every single gem stone unique. More often than not these infinitesimal attributes are totally invisible to the naked eye and can only be viewed by a 10x power or more microscope. Sometimes though very, very rarely a diamond was formed that is completely free from any inclusions whatsoever.

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Some think that this might mean it has less personality and warmth than one that nature has blessed with real character, although its rarity does of course make it extremely valuable. The choice is yours but more and more diamond lovers are discovering the additional pleasure of a diamond that nature has set apart from all others with its very own radiant personality. When light enters a diamond, it is reflected and refracted out. If there is anything disrupting the flow of light in the diamond, such as an inclusion, a proportion of the light reflected will be lost.

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Carat is often confused with size even though it is actually a measure of weight.

The term carat comes from the carob seed whose uniform weight was such that early gem traders used it as the most accurate and universally accepted method of weighing their diamonds. When deciding what size, once again cut plays a vital part in your final choice because the cut of a diamond can make it appear much larger or smaller than its actual weight.

High caratage diamonds often appear to be brighter or more brilliant than their lower caratage siblings due to the prism effect of light travelling over larger distances. However, carat is merely one of the factors to take into consideration when assessing the quality of the diamond that was born for you.

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Carat weight.

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In the world of diamonds, only one man makes the cut.

“I have devoted my life’s work to releasing the brilliance in diamonds.

Whether it’s the largest diamond in the world, or for any of my individual customers, I address every diamond in exactly the same way, asking the same question every time: How do I unlock the beauty of this diamond?

Astralis is the answer to this question.”

The world’s most celebrated diamond cutter.

Exclusive to Nationwide Jewellers in Cushion, Round and Heart shapes.

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www.astralisdiamonds.com

Three beautiful cuts, one distinctive character.

The remarkable Astralis Diamond is Gabi Tolkowsky’s signature creation, featuring a unique star in every culet. Demonstrating the cutting perfection and unique facet arrangement, this results in stones which are up to 30% brighter.

Only Astralis diamonds feature Gabi’s signature on the girdle of every stone.

The Astralis Cushion

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The Astralis Round Brilliant

The Astralis Heart

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Antwerp THE DIAMOND BUYING CAPITAL OF THE WORLD

Antwerp, Belgium is the Diamond Capital of the World. 80% of the world’s diamonds are traded here.

Typically, only the largest importers in the world can purchase diamonds in Antwerp, Belgium. We gain access to this very exclusive market because we are members of Nationwide Jewellers, the largest jewellery buying group in Australasia, with 500 stores across Australia & New Zealand. We are able to deal direct with some of the largest diamond merchants in Antwerp sorting through thousands of diamonds to find the best cut, colour and clarity available for our customers.

The diamonds we select are amongst the best in the world; the ones we don’t select are later sold on the open market.

Ask us how to secure the diamond of your dreams.

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Your Nationwide jeweller is your diamond expert and will find exactly what you want at a price we think you’ll agree gives you exceptional value and quality in superbly designed and beautifully finished diamond jewellery.

Ask your Nationwide jeweller to show you their range of diamonds, and explain to you why the quality gives each piece that special something extra to make it a jewel to give, a jewel to treasure for generations to come.

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