The rarer an item is, the more exclusivity it holds. Here is the 10 rarest gemstones in the world :
Painite
Painite is the rarest mineral which only two crystals were known to exist for decades. It was first found in Myanmar by British mineralogist and gem dealer Arthur C.D. Pain in 1950s. It is made up of aluminum, calcium, boron, zirconium and oxygen. Painite has an orange-red to brownish-red color similar to topaz, and has a naturally hexagonal shape. Until late 2004, only two had been cut into faceted gemstones.
Alexandrite
Alexandrite has color-changing properties when it is put under different kind of lights, which comes from the rare combination of minerals : titanium, iron and chromium. It becomes builsh-green under sunlight and purplish-red under lamplight. It was named after Czar Alexander II, a man who emancipated Russia’s serfs. The gem was originally discovered in Russia’s Ural Mountains in 1830s, and now found in Brazil, India, Madagascar, and Sri Lanka.
Taaffeite
This mineral was named after the founder, a Bohemian-Irish gemologist Richard Taaffe. It is the only gemstone to have been initially identified from a faceted stone. It contains beryllium, magnesium, and aluminum which makes the stone to be the first mineral to contain both beryllium and magnesium as essential components. The gem can be found in Sri Lanka, Tanzania and China.
Jadeite
Mainly found in limited quantities. The name is derived from Spanish phrase “piedra de ijada” (stone of the side). A Jadeite with deep translucent green color is the most valuable. The green stone is known as Imperial Jade. In 1997, Christie’s auction house sold this mineral in necklace for nearly $10 million. The color of stone is largely affected by the presence of trace elements : chromium and iron. It can be found in California, US, Myanmar, New Zealand, Guatemala, and Japan.
Red Beryl
It’s formerly known as “bixbite”, ”red emerald”, or “scarlet emerald”. There is only one known commercial production of red beryl in the world, located at Ruby Violet mine in the Wah Wah Mountains of Beaver Country, Utah. The mine was discovered in 1958 by Lamar Hodges while he was prospecting for uranium.
Black Opal
Opal is Australia’s national gemstone and the black-colored one is the rarest and most valuable of its kind. Besides found in Australia, the black stone can also be found in Virgin Valley, Nevada. The black fire opal is the official gemstone of this country.
Grandidierite
Grandidierite was first discovered in 1902 in Southern Madagascar and was named after a French explorer Alfred Grandidier who studied the natural history of Madagascar. The mineral with bluish-green color can transmit blue, green and white light.
Benitoite
The stone was first described in 1907 by George D. Louderback who named it benitoite for its occurence near San Benito River in San Benito Country, Calofornia. When this blue to purple gemstone is put under UV light, it resembles glowing blue chalk.
Tanzanite
This blue-purple gemstone can be found at foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro in Northern Tanzania. It was first discovered by Manuel d’Souza in Merelani Hills of Manyara Region in Northern Tanzania in 1967. The gem is noted for its strong trichroism, appearing alternately blue, violet and burgundy depending on crystal orientation. It can also appear differently when viewed under alternate lighting conditions. Tanzanite could potentially be mined out within 20-30 years, which make it extremely rare and of course, expensive.
Poudretteite
The gem was first dicovered in 1960s in the Pudrette quarry of Mont Saint Hilaire, Quebec, Canada. It was named after Poudrette family because they operated a quarry in the location where the stone was originally found.
Source : http://www.miningglobal.com/
