For A Brilliant Memory, A Brilliant Gem

Woman 1: My, that's a beautiful ring.

Woman 2: Thank you.

Woman 1: Is that a blue diamond?

Woman 2: Yes it is. It's from my husband.

Woman 1: Oh, your husband gave that to you?

Woman 2: No, it IS my husband!

In fact it is a "remembrance" ring created by the Swiss company Algordanza. The desirability of diamonds is based on the four C's - color, cut, clarity, and carat. But now there is a 5th C - cremation. The technology now exists to turn human ashes into precious gems.

In an article by Gian Volpicelli for Motherboard, the reporter interviewed Algordanza founder and CEO Rinaldo Willy, who explains the technical process thusly:

We treat the ashes with particular chemical agents to extract all the carbon from them. Next, carbon is heated to high temperatures and converted into graphite. Finally, we place the graphite in a machine that essentially reproduces the conditions that are given in the depths of the Earth, where natural diamonds form over thousands of years: extremely high pressure and temperatures around 1500 degrees Celsius. After some weeks, or months, we obtain the diamond.

The memorial diamonds range in cut size from 1 carat to 1.8 carats in exceptional cases. The color of the diamonds is determined by the quality of the ashes.

For example, people who have been treated with chemotherapy usually wind up being diamonds of lighter colors. Our diamonds are usually blue because of the presence of boron traces in the human body, but every person changes into a different and unique diamond, ranging from crystal-clear to almost black.

Willy believes his process may become the standard for human remains as land for cemeteries becomes increasingly scarce. He describes his philosophy in almost poetic terms:

Diamonds are precious, pure, clean. They couldn’t be more different from today’s cemeteries, which are places crammed with too many graves, very often neglected, and where you can’t have a real relationship with the dead. I loved the idea of dead people becoming something you can touch and enjoy the sight of.

The company website cleverly states, "Life in all its facets will end someday," clearly alluding to preserving those facets in a "Diamond Burial."

The process is not inexpensive. The cost can range from 5 to 25 thousand dollars to convert your loved one into a piece of jewelry. However, according to Willy, the stones generally appraise for twice that amount. From a purely mercenary standpoint, a person could theoretically have their loved one cremated, use the life insurance money to have the ashes made into gemstones, and then turn around and sell them for a profit, even though they are not real diamonds. But Willy contends:

Our diamonds are real diamonds. They have all the physical and chemical properties of diamonds. Obviously, synthetic diamonds are less valuable than natural ones, since they’re man-made. But you can’t tell our diamonds from natural ones with the naked eye. Not even a jeweler could. The only one way to distinguish between them is a chemical screening. There’s no apparent difference. It would most likely look like a natural blue diamond, which costs in the neighborhood of $40,000.

Another appealing aspect of this service is,"the fact that a diamond remains, and can be kept and passed down from generation to generation. It’s not something that you just scatter away at some point, like sometimes happens with ashes from cremation."

To be sure, the website reiterates these sentiments. "These diamonds are forever [shades of 007], and they can be an everlasting keepsake, remembrance, or heirloom to pass to future generations."

Also, we're all familiar with the saying that diamonds are a girl's best friend. "Since just two grams of carbon are sufficient to produce a diamond, some of our customers ask to make many memorial diamonds from the same ashes, one for each member of the family." So now a diamond can be a girl's best friend. They can be a girl's husband. They can be a girl's boyfriend or fiance. They can be a girl's parent, aunt, uncle, or 3rd cousin twice removed.

As with all new technology, the possibility for abuse comes into question. Could disreputable individuals use this technology to enrich themselves through kidnapping and murder? Of course, but you would need the cooperation of a licensed funeral home, and a lab to process the ashes. Furthermore, the process itself takes months or even years.

And as with all emerging technology, there are legal, ethical, and religious implications.

If people can and chose to convert the physical remains of their deceased into precious gems, can jewelry made from pets be far behind?

So if you've ever exclaimed to your husband or boyfriend in anger, "I'm going to squeeze your balls so tight they turn into diamonds," you may now get your wish.

Personally speaking, I don't like diamonds. I don't like the ruthless cartel that controls them and artificially inflates their pricing. Diamonds don't impress me. They are cold. There is fire in their hearts, but they give no warmth. They represent greed and vanity. I was more interested in the so-called new chocolate and candy-colored diamonds, until I found out that they are actually inferior quality stones that could not be sold, but then are chemically treated and marketed at full retail value.

I have more respect for the true colored gemstones - emeralds, rubies, and sapphires (my personal favorite and birthstone) - but they are well out of my price range. When I buy jewelry for my wife, it is aquamarines, her birthstone - affordable and beautiful.


All that being said, and my will already stipulating my wish to be cremated and the ashes to be disposed of by the mortuary, I am now very intrigued by this option. It would be up to my wife, of course, if this was something she'd want to do (morally and financially), but I would have no objection to becoming a piece of fine jewelry.

Willy states, "Our diamonds are indestructible tools of remembrance, but, at the end of the day, it depends on a person’s loved ones to keep their memory alive."

http://www.algordanza.us