What Makes Diamond An Ideal Gemstone?

Diamond possesses many qualities which make it an ideal gemstone.




It is extremely hard, and also very tough and hard-wearing, and this also helps it to take a very high polish. Some hard articles are brittle which detracts from their durability. Only cubic boron nitride (borazon) is harder.
In its pure form it is colourless, has a high refractive index, so has a very high lustre.
It possesses high dispersion, meaning that different light wavelengths are diffracted differently, giving a strong scintillating play of prismatic colours.