GEMS & JEWELRY
RAREST AND MOST EXPENSIVE GEMS IN THE WORLD Gemstones are one of the minerals that are highly prized for their extreme beauty, rarity, and durability. They are the rarest form of beauty on earth as they are formed over millions or billions of years. Still, man has discovered more than 300 different kinds of gemstones. But there are gems that are thousand to multiple times rare, in terms of their known quantities. Diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds are by far the most valuable and widely acknowledged. Nevertheless, there are a few small numbers of the world's most valuable and real gemstones which we probably will never see in person, as museums and collectors alike are very interested in these stones. Some of these scarce gems include painite, tanzanite, alexandrite, musgravite, and red beryl. Painites are rare minerals made out of borate and they are only to be found in Myanmar. It wasn’t until the 1950s that it was discovered to be a new gemstone. It was named after Arthur C.D. Pain, a British mineralogist and gemstones dealer who mistakenly identified this as Ruby because of the deep red color it has. Only two additional Painites were discovered until 2001. 1000 more crystals have been discovered but face table material remains very rare. Tanzanite is a Violet, blue, and burgundy variety of minerals, caused by small amounts of vanadium. Tanzanite was first discovered in Tanzania, Africa, in 1967. It was one of the few gemstones in the world that had excellent trichroism or the ability to show a variety of colors from different perspectives and various angles. The fact that it is anticipated to be completely mined out within the next few decades further heightens the rarity of this stone. The fact that Alexandrite is widely known as “Emerald by day, ruby by night”, shows its ability to change shades and colors under different lights. During sunlight, it appears as a green-colored stone while it is red to purple in lower light. Smaller varieties of alexandrite have been mined in Asia, Sri Lanka, and Brazil, however, the fine specimens are still extremely scarce and highly-priced.
43
