20 interesting facts about jewelry

Throughout history, people have worn, traded and placed great value on precious metals, rare gems and jewelry. But even if you consider yourself an expert in matters related to them, perhaps in this issue you will find some new facts that will surprise you.

1. The weight of the largest pearl found in the wild, which is called the pearl of Allah or the pearl of Lao Tzu, is 6.3 kg.

2. The collection of jewelry of Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain is estimated at 57 million dollars.

3. The Heart of the Ocean diamond from James Cameron's Titanic was not entirely fictional. On that fateful night, a rather large sapphire sank along with the Titanic.

4. All diamonds turn into graphite over a long period of time.

5. Although diamond is considered the hardest substance in nature, synthetic nanomaterials have been created that are much harder than diamond.

6. Despite the high hardness of diamond, it is quite fragile. If you hit it with a hammer, it will crack.

7. Wedding rings were made mandatory for marriage by Pope Nicholas I in 860 AD.

8. Opals can be up to 30 percent water.

9. Very high quality emeralds are considered more valuable than diamonds.

10. Pure gold is always yellow, and only changes color when other metals are added to it.

11. One of the largest sapphires is called the Star of Asia, and is now in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

12. All the gold that has been mined in world history can be compressed into a 16-meter cube.

13. There are about 10 billion tons of gold in the oceans.

14. Pearls form in only 1 in 10,000 oysters.

15. Only one in a million mined diamonds becomes a piece of jewelry.

16. All diamonds are over 3 billion years old.

17. The most expensive piece of jewelry created for a movie was Nicole Kidman's heroine necklace for the movie Moulin Rouge. Its price was 1 million dollars.

18. All 12 stones corresponding to each month of birth come from 12 tribes of Israel.

19. The wedding ring is worn on the ring finger, as it is believed that there is a vein that goes to the heart.

20. After many millions of years, the Sun will turn into one big diamond star.