Ed Glinert whets your appetite for the jewels of the Coronation on this scintillating talk on the majesty and mystery of diamonds. Here is a taster.

Of all the jewels, the most dazzling is the diamond. It twinkles and enchants. It sparkles and seduces. It exudes joy, innocence and repentance. It can foretell misfortune. The ancient Hebrews knew this, for the adamantine stone on the High Priest’s breastplate glowed red if bloodshed loomed in battle. It can confound poison and prevent insanity, decide guilt or innocence.

A stone held before a guilty person dulls and darkens; a stone held before an innocent person glows with increased brilliance. The Greeks gave it a name: adamas – untameable – from which the word “diamond” derives. Plato and the Greek philosophers believed that gemstones were living beings, while the Romans worshipped the diamond with superstitious reverence. They believed that diamonds gave the wearer strength in battle, protected him against ghosts and magic, and had the power to ward off evil. They wore them as talismans, and would fasten a diamond to the left arm to ward off fears of the night...