Gemstones have so many nicknames due to their immaculate allure. Tears of the Gods, stars, droplets, etc. The intense, lengthy process the gems go through when being created gives them the unique sparkle we all crave. When we think of valuable gemstones the first one to come to mind is usually the diamond. There is, of course, good reason for this. The diamond is one of the most valuable gems due to its intrinsic and extrinsic worth. But there are so many other gorgeous stones that not everyone knows about. If you prefer unique beauty you may even prefer some of these rare stones over the traditional diamond.
Jadeite
Most Expensive Gemstones:
Finances Online provide a great list of the top ten most expensive gems:
- Blue Diamond – $3.93 million per carat
- Musgravite – $35,000 per carat
- Jadeite – $20,000 per carat
- Alexandrite – $12,000 per carat
- Red Beryl – $10,000 per carat
- Padparadscha Sapphire – $8,000 per carat
- Benitoite – $3,500 per carat
- Black Opal – $3,500 per carat
- Demantoid Garnet – $3,300 per carat
- Taaffeite – $2,500 per carat
Garnets
Though diamonds are the most valuable gem, they are not the rarest gemstone. According to The Guinness Book of World Records says that the rarest gemstone is painite. To this day there are less than 25 known gems of these. One of the most unique rare stones is alexandrite. It has a rare characteristic where it actually changes color depending on the light it’s in, or what angle you are looking at it. The colors it can appear are blue, green, red, purple or pink. Another rare gemstone that also has the ability to change color is tanzanite. It is about 1000 times rarer than diamonds. The reason that this gem changes color is the amount of vanadium ions that are present in the stone.
Tanzanite
