Top 10 of the World's Most Precious Stones
An interesting read for all designer jewelery lovers, collectors and just plain you and me who would like to know more about the big rocks we're obsessed with and how much value there is in it, really..
Diamonds like any other commodity, are very much the marketed, perceived value which operate by the economic rule of supply and demand.
Though diamonds may not at all be rare (annual world production of gem-quality diamond exceeds sixty million carats --- TOP SECRET), some diamonds are more precious than others, and they may not even warrant the price tag of what you may be buying! On the reverse, the most precious gem stones, may not even be worth much market value...
Without further ado, here are the Top 10 most precious stones (Some of the following are surprisingly affordable, simply because the general public doesn’t know or care about them and thus demand is relatively weak)
PAINITE
Origin: Burma (Myanmar) states of Kachin, Mogok
The painite is an orangish or reddish brown, with the brown tint coming from iron in the crystal. It was first discovered in Burma in the 1950s.
SERENDIBITE
Origin: Sri Lanka, India
The name comes from the old Arabic term for Sri Lanka, Serendib, India
POUDRETTEITE
Origin: Mogok, Myanmar
A Mohs hardness of 5 poudretteite is the softest stone on this list — too scratchable for a ring but suitable for earrings, a pin or a pendant if care is exercised
GRANDIDIERITE
Grandidierite is a bluish green mineral, found primarily in Madagascar. It is trichroic, transmitting blue, green and white light.
JEREMEJEVITE (ye-REM-ay-ev-ite)
Origin: Namibia
Jeremejevite is colorless, sky blue or pale yellow stone.
MAJORITE
Origin: Purple form of garnet discovered in 1970 in the Coorara meteorite near Eucla, Western Australia.
Majorite forms under the extreme pressure that occurs 250 miles (400 km) or more beneath the earth’s surface or from the shock of a meteorite impact.
TAAFFEITE
Last Origin: Sri Lanka
The number of Taaffeite existent is equivalent to a cupful only. However, despite such rarity, it's cheaper than diamond. Colorless Taaffeite go for between 500USD - 4000USD per carat depending on color strength
MUSGRAVITE
Origin: South Australia, Greenland, Madagascar, Antarctica
There is another species chemically and optically similar to taaffeite,
MUSGRAVITE, which is even rarer. Facetable musgravite was first reported in 1993; as of 2005 there were eight such specimens
BENITOITE
Origin: San Benito County, California, USA
Benitoite is a strong blue with a dispersion similar to that of diamond, and fluoresces an intense blue-white under UV light
COLORED DIAMONDS
Strongly colored diamonds, called fancies, can be genuinely scarce.
About one carat out of every 10,000 sold is a fancy.
These shades include yellow, green, blue, orange, brown (“champagne”), purple, gray, black (called carbonado, recently shown to be meteoric), milky white, pink and red.
Red (ruby red) is by far, the rarest.
Prices have so far ranged from about $800,000.00 to $1.9 million which makes this substance one of the world’s most concentrated nonradiological forms of wealth
Reference:
Curious Notions http://www.curiousnotions.com/gemstones/index.asp
Luxist http://www.luxist.com
Diamonds like any other commodity, are very much the marketed, perceived value which operate by the economic rule of supply and demand.
Though diamonds may not at all be rare (annual world production of gem-quality diamond exceeds sixty million carats --- TOP SECRET), some diamonds are more precious than others, and they may not even warrant the price tag of what you may be buying! On the reverse, the most precious gem stones, may not even be worth much market value...
Without further ado, here are the Top 10 most precious stones (Some of the following are surprisingly affordable, simply because the general public doesn’t know or care about them and thus demand is relatively weak)
PAINITE
Origin: Burma (Myanmar) states of Kachin, Mogok
The painite is an orangish or reddish brown, with the brown tint coming from iron in the crystal. It was first discovered in Burma in the 1950s.
SERENDIBITE
Origin: Sri Lanka, India
The name comes from the old Arabic term for Sri Lanka, Serendib, India
POUDRETTEITE
Origin: Mogok, Myanmar
A Mohs hardness of 5 poudretteite is the softest stone on this list — too scratchable for a ring but suitable for earrings, a pin or a pendant if care is exercised
GRANDIDIERITE
Grandidierite is a bluish green mineral, found primarily in Madagascar. It is trichroic, transmitting blue, green and white light.
JEREMEJEVITE (ye-REM-ay-ev-ite)
Origin: Namibia
Jeremejevite is colorless, sky blue or pale yellow stone.
MAJORITE
Origin: Purple form of garnet discovered in 1970 in the Coorara meteorite near Eucla, Western Australia.
Majorite forms under the extreme pressure that occurs 250 miles (400 km) or more beneath the earth’s surface or from the shock of a meteorite impact.
TAAFFEITE
Last Origin: Sri Lanka
The number of Taaffeite existent is equivalent to a cupful only. However, despite such rarity, it's cheaper than diamond. Colorless Taaffeite go for between 500USD - 4000USD per carat depending on color strength
MUSGRAVITE
Origin: South Australia, Greenland, Madagascar, Antarctica
There is another species chemically and optically similar to taaffeite,
MUSGRAVITE, which is even rarer. Facetable musgravite was first reported in 1993; as of 2005 there were eight such specimens
BENITOITE
Origin: San Benito County, California, USA
Benitoite is a strong blue with a dispersion similar to that of diamond, and fluoresces an intense blue-white under UV light
COLORED DIAMONDS
Strongly colored diamonds, called fancies, can be genuinely scarce.
About one carat out of every 10,000 sold is a fancy.
These shades include yellow, green, blue, orange, brown (“champagne”), purple, gray, black (called carbonado, recently shown to be meteoric), milky white, pink and red.
Red (ruby red) is by far, the rarest.
Prices have so far ranged from about $800,000.00 to $1.9 million which makes this substance one of the world’s most concentrated nonradiological forms of wealth
Reference:
Curious Notions http://www.curiousnotions.com/gemstones/index.asp
Luxist http://www.luxist.com
Labels: gems and precious stones, jewelry
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