Daily Mail article 27th August 2014 by Mandy Francis
Edited extracts of the on-line version by Mike Kelly, MD of Phoenix Memorial Diamonds
I turned my dead husband into a diamond: The
bizarre trend for making keepsakes from a loved
one's ashes
- • Glynis Barnett, 63, paid £5,000 to have a laboratory turn her husband's ashes into a gem
- • Tributes made from ashes, or 'cremorials', are becoming more popular
(irrelevant text removed)
When John died in 2011, aged 64, following a long battle with throat and liver cancer, Glynis spent months wondering what to do with his ashes. ‘Although we had been married for 42 years, we never discussed in detail what we wanted if either of us should die,’ she says. ‘His ashes sat by the side of my bed for 18 months, while I struggled with my grief.
Photo : Glynis with husband John. Despite being married for 42 years she says they never discussed in detail what they would do if one of them died. ‘I eventually decided to scatter them under the willow tree in our garden, but then I remembered a friend of mine who’d told me she planned to have her husband’s ashes turned into a diamond if anything happened to him.
‘I liked the idea I could take a little piece of John with me wherever I went. After months of research, I contacted Phoenix Memorial Diamonds in Manchester [Macclesfield] and ordered a .75 carat canary yellow gem. All I needed to do was send off 100g of John’s ashes by recorded post, and pay a deposit of £2,500.’
Turning ashes into a diamond is fairly straightforward, [Oh no it's not!!!] both are comprised of the same substance: the element carbon (the human body is 18 per cent carbon, and the rest is mostly water).
Natural diamonds are formed underground when carbon is put exposed to huge amounts of heat and pressure. Laboratory-grown diamonds are made by creating the same forces artificially. First
[not quite First] the carbon is heated to 1,300c until they become molten [not quite], then they are compressed at 10,000 tons per square inch for several weeks [days] until they form a diamond crystal, which is chemically indistinguishable from a natural stone [raw diamond]. Because the chemical make-up of each person’s ashes is unique, so is the size [?No], clarity and precise colour of the stone that emerges. However, the natural colour of diamonds made from human ash is broadly canary yellow due to the nitrogen content in the ashes [well almost].
These yellow laboratory diamonds sell for about £6,500 per carat — around 40 per cent less [actually they cost much more?] than the equivalent natural diamond, which costs more because it takes thousands of years to form, is scarce and has to be mined. Once the diamond crystal has been formed, it is cut and polished in the same way as a natural diamond would be.Glynis waited 12 weeks for her diamond to be delivered. ‘My youngest son Robert, 29, who works in finance, was incredibly suspicious of the whole process and insisted on being there when the diamond was delivered,’ she says. ‘He drove the courier [Hmm – now I'm a “courier”?] to our local jeweller to have the gem tested before he’d let me pay the balance.’
Glynis is now hoping to get her diamond set into a ring, and plans to leave it to her daughter Lucie, 31, in her will. ‘John would have laughed at my extravagance, as I am pretty frugal by nature, but I feel it’s an important, lasting and very personal tribute to my beloved husband.’
Glynis says her friends always admire the £5,000 yellow diamond she had made out of John's ashes
Mike Kelly : I wish I had the chance to edit this article and I'm sure Glynis would have like to smile ;-)
There were over 100 comments made on the Daily Mail website, here are some of the positive ones.....
- I think this is a lovely way to keep the person that you loved with you, to some extent.. It may not be to everyones taste, but if it helps the grieving person left behind, then why not.
- I do not think it is weird. You keep their ashes in a container in your house or pay a huge amount of money for a crypt. A diamond or piece of jewellery seems like a practical and lovely way to keep them near to you. I like the garden sculpture or they make memorial pots you can plan in and keep the ashes.
- At the end of the day, if it brings comfort to those left behind, then that's good. It certainly won't affect the deceased. Personally, and I'm sure most people would feel the same as me, once I'm gone, do as you wish with my remains. I won't care! There's no problem with this! If it helps someone cope with such a loss who am I to judge?it seems nicer to end up as a sparkly gem than a load of rotten old bones or just dust anyway.
...and some misinformed bizarre ones
- Don't know why The truth has been red arrowed. these are NOT diamonds that are being made, they're synthetic diamond replicas. No different to the "Diamonique" stuff you see on the shopping channels. They're NOT diamonds.
- what this...another con...there is no way ashes can be made into a diamond...like turning copper into gold...
- Experts in gemology tell me this is a scam and is not possible. It preys on the grief of those who have lost loved ones.
With us manufacturing hundreds of diamonds made from both hair and ashes (and bees and umbilical cords) I do not know of one customers who has not been delighted to be able to have a unique diamond made from their loved-one whether a husband, wife, child, a baby or even a pet dog or horse.
