Damien Hirst’s ‘For the Love of God’ is a cast of an 18th-century human skull encrusted with 8,601 diamonds
When the Canadian mining company Lucara Diamond Corp announced its find of an epic 2,492-carat stone in Botswana in late August, many geologists around the world rubbed their eyes in disbelief.
Were she around today, Oscar-winning actress Elizabeth Taylor would presumably have had a quotable reaction to that stone. Renowned for her adage of “big girls need big diamonds,” her love of jewelry was legendary – and her private collection was one of the most expensive in the world, including the whopping 69-carat Taylor-Burton diamond. That’s more than 60 times the average engagement ring diamond in the US today.
So why are people so drawn to diamonds? And what makes this gemstone so special? The answer is as multifaceted as a brilliant cut diamond itself – starting with its properties, as the hardest material on earth with the highest thermal conductivity …
Photo: Willie Schumann