Humans are fascinated to precious jewelry and have adorned themselves with jewelry. Rather than the attracting point of view, many gemstones are believed to possess certain magical artifacts including healing properties. These precious stones are found really precious and are found among the rare gemstones in the world. Dig into the world of incredibly expensive jewels with our top 10 list of the world’s rarest and most valuable gemstones.
Tanzanite, an alternative of the blue sapphire is a rare blue gemstone found only in Tanzania. Known by the name ‘blue zoisite’, this blue gem was first discovered in 1967 and was first sold at Tiffany’s New York. The blue color of this blue/violet gem appear more evident when subjected to fluorescent light and the violet comes dominant under incandescent illumination. These soft stones are best suited for jewelry purposes and are easy to wear.
Taaffeite, one of the rarest gems in the world is a cut-polished gem and is seen in red, purple, blue and even clear in color. Discovered in 1945, Taaffeite is the only gemstone to have been initially identified from a faceted stone with its deposits found only in Sri Lanka and Tanzania. This expensive, transparent mauve gemstone is used for jewelry purposes.
Black opal, one of the most valuable gemstones in the world is the highest priced variety of precious opal. Opal is a hydrated amorphous form of silica where the black opal is characterized by a dark body tone with its common color ranging from dark grey to jet black and also seen with a green base. Mostly found in Australia, these precious gems are beautifully fashioned and can rival the prices of more expensive diamonds and rubies. Mainly used for jewelry purposes, especially in earrings and brooches as they are subjected to scratch easily.
This rare blue barium titanium silicate mineral is found at California, Japan and in the State of Arkansas. Benitoite appear bright blue to bluish white color under short wave ultraviolet light and are rarely seen in fluoresce red color under long-wave UV light. Benitoites are considered to be the official gemstone of the state as the commercial mining operations are available only there.
Red Beryls receives its red color due to the presence of manganese and is an extreme rare variety of beryl. They hold a prominent position among the rarest gemstones on Earth and are known to have deposits in Utah and New Mexico. The formation that requires a unique geochemical environment made this gemstone rare and they are 1,000 times more valuable than gold.
Described as “emerald by day, ruby by night,” alexandrite is the very rare color-change variety of the mineral chrysoberyl. Their unique characteristic of color change make them very precious, valuable and are exceptionally rare. Alexandrite appear green in color under direct sunlight and appear red in color under a lamplight. Originally discovered in Russia’s Ural Mountains in 1830s they are now found in Sri Lanka, Brazil and East Africa. As per traditional belief, Alexandrite gemstones are gifted on 55th wedding anniversaries.
Jadeite, pyroxene mineral is much valuable and more reversed than that of semi-precious jade. Used for jewelry purposes and artifacts, they were sold for millions. They are believed to cure kidney stones if it was rubbed against the side of the afflicted person’s body. Myanmar, considered to be the world’s largest source of the Jadeite gemstone is facing depletion stages and will be exhausted in 10 to 20 years.
Musgravite, a rare oxide mineral has identical properties with that of taaffeites. Being used as a gemstone, Musgravite was found in Greenland, Antarctica, Sri Lanka, Madagascar and Tanzania. It was typically located at Musgrave Range in Southern Australia, for which it was named. However musgravites was rediscovered in 1967 but only a little are found up until the present.
Painite, the rare borate mineral is being used as a gemstone and has its rare findings surfaced in Myanmar and only a few number has been faceted yet. The stone with an unusual combination of orange, red, and brown was named after the British gemologist Arthur Pain. Available in the hexagonal shape, the painite gemstone contains the traces of calcium, zirconium, boron, aluminium and oxygen present in them.
The most expensive gemstone ever sold at an auction is pink star diamond which is 12 times more expensive than the average pink diamonds. The vivid shade of pink denotes its special characteristics and was sold at $1.4 million per carat.
