Fluorescent Nanodiamonds

2Nanodiamonds

Now the final allotrope of nanocarbon–nanodiamonds (NDs), and before that, there are diamonds. Famous or not, every diamond comes with a story, some publicly known and others remain in private talks. This is the story of the French Regent diamond.

2.1 Ah, Diamonds, Eternal Beautiful

Many famous diamonds today, including the French Regent diamond, originally came from India, each shadowed by a long trail of history [1]. Behind the flawless beauty of diamonds lies the dark side of human nature, reflecting personal selfishness and greediness, social and political power struggles, theft, robbery, murders, and even wars. The Regent diamond has it all. The original gem was said to have been discovered in 1701 by a slave working in a diamond mine at Kistna of Southern India. It presented as the opportunity of lifetime for the slave to gain his freedom. He hid the 410 carats stone, weighing 82 g, in a deep wound cut in his leg before fleeing to the south coast in search of a quick getaway to a new land and new life altogether. Shrouded by the agony of being caught and the risks of exposing his valuable treasure, he soon hooked up with an English skipper, entrusting the seaman with his valuable stone in exchange for a stealthy sail immediately. No one ever knew the fate of the slave, but the seaman came back alone with the stone in his pocket, which he sold quickly to a diamond merchant, Jamchund, for about £1000. Like a drunken sailor, he squandered the money as fast ...