size: 16 inches material: 18k white gold gemstones: natural black diamonds 20.00ctw Notes from the Curator This faceted black diamond bead necklace, assembled with approximately twenty carats of natural black diamonds on an 18-karat white-gold frame, represents a design language that gained traction only in the past few decades. Black diamonds were dismissed by the jewelry world until the late 1990s and early 2000s, when designers began pairing them with colorless stones to dramatic effect, and their opaque luster became valued for the same qualities that once relegated them to industrial use. Natural black diamonds derive their colour from graphite inclusions formed during crystallization, which absorb light rather than refracting it, creating a subdued metallic sheen that catches the eye in motion. The bead format, with each tiny sphere individually faceted, multiplies this effect along the entire strand, making the necklace a technical achievement as much as an ornamental one. The stones themselves are rare, found almost exclusively in Brazil and the Central African Republic, geographies that were once connected millions of years ago—a fact that deepens the geological mystery surrounding their origin.