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Many people mistakenly believe that the precious stones’ costs limit stops at diamonds, but naturally, there are other, as beautiful, but rarer minerals, which price often exceeds the cost of diamonds. Sometimes, even significantly. If you are searching for a perfect ring to ask you beloved to get married to you, chose a ring with gems from our list and be sure, that she will definitely say “Yes”. Maybe even several times.
Their high price is usually determined by a unique combination of rarity, beauty and great demand. The list shows the average price of high quality stones available today in the global market, but it should be noted that some of the prices are approximate as particularly valuable gems are often sold privately, without disclosing to the public.
10. Taaffeite:
Taaffeite is one of the rarest gems in the world, named after its discoverer Count Eduard Taaffe, who in 1945 has accidentally discovered in the acquired party of faceted gems an unusual sample that he had never previously met.
The range of Taaffeite shades can vary from lavender to pale pink. Nowadays, the original mineral can be found only in small numbers of placer deposits on Sri Lanka and southern Tanzania. The high-quality Taaffeite copies’ traditionally cost from 2 to 5 thousand dollars per a carat.
9. Poudretteite:
Poudretteite is a rare pink mineral that was firstly discovered in 1987 in Quebec (Canada). Stone is named in honour of Poudrette family, which still owns the same mine in the Saint-Hillaire Mountain, where the first sample was found.
Surprisingly, quality gems started appearing on the open market only in 2000 after few stones were found in the northern Mogok (Myanmar).
Since 2005, the mine in Mogok seems to be empty as no stones were found there anymore. Moreover, the Canadian quarry gave the world about 300 stones of various quality. Depending on the colour saturation and stones purity, poudretteite price can range from 3 to 5 thousand dollars.
8. Musgravite:
Musgravite is similar to Taaffeite in its appearance and chemical composition. It was first discovered in 1967 in Musgrave Ranges, Australia. Later, minerals were found in Greenland, Tanzania, Madagascar and even in the depths of Antarctica’s cold lands.
Because historically a very small amount of these gems was found, the prices of green and blue faceted minerals reach the expected sizes equal to 2-3 thousand dollars per carat, while the purple faceted mineral will cost about 6 thousand dollars per carat.
7. Sapphire:
Sapphire is one of the most famous gems that in the jewellery industry and mineralogy is called corundum. It has a deep blue colour, less often pink, green and yellow-orange.
The most famous mines of these minerals are located in India, Russia, Vietnam, Thailand, the United States, Australia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, China and Madagascar. Although, any of these amazing stones is highly valuable, there is one that is appreciated the most due to its amazing colour.
Padparadscha (translated from the Tamil means “the colour of sunrise”) – a pinkish-orange sapphires, which are historically extracted in Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Madagascar. Now it is almost impossible to find padparadscha in its natural form, thus it is usually been artificially created by heating the corundum mineral in the oven to the desired condition.
Last classical (meaning not heated) padparadscha mineral weighing 1.65 carats was sold in Sri Lanka about 20 years ago for the price of 18 thousand dollars. Nowadays, padparadscha that is weighing more than five carats considered to be collectible and can be assessed up to 30 thousand dollars per carat.
6. Emerald:
Emerald is a super bright green or dark green gem. In recent years, Colombia has the title of the main producer of these minerals.
Despite the large number of actively mined emeralds in the world, their prices are still truly cosmic. Today, clean stones are extremely rare that together with the huge popularity defines their high cost. Green gems of exceptional quality are being sold for more than US $ 8,000 per carat in the world market.
5. Alexandrite:
Alexandrite is the precious stone that is famous for its ability to change colour. In the daylight, it is characterized by the blue-green, dark blue-green and olive-green tints, while under the artificial light it can be of pink and crimson, red, purple or purple-red colours.
The first alexandrite was discovered in 1833 on the emerald mine near Yekaterinburg. The cost of this gem, depending on its quality can vary from 10 to 15 thousand US dollars.
4. Ruby:
Ruby is one of the most popular gemstones in the world, known for its rich shades of red: bright red, purple-red, dark red. It can be found, like diamonds, on every continent except Antarctica. The main exporting countries are Thailand, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.
The most valuable rubies are from Asia, especially colour stones called “pigeon’s blood” – a pure red with a violet hue. The limited number and huge popularity make these jewels extremely expensive. Per carat of high-quality ruby on the world market, you will have to pay about 15 thousand dollars.
3. Diamond:
Now it’s time to talk about top-3 of the most expensive precious stones. And the third one, in this amazing top is diamond. Actually, rough diamond. Rough diamond is a mineral that is one of the most expensive and desirable among gemstones. This, of course, is due to the huge popularity of so-called cut diamonds.
Every year the number of manufactured jewellery with these gemstones is growing rapidly and the industrial diamond deposits can be found today on all continents except Antarctica. Nowadays, perfectly cut D colour diamond on the average priced is at about 15,000 US dollars per carat.
2. Grandidierite:
Grandidierite is a rare mineral of a greenish-blue, yellow-blue or bluish-green colours. The first found in Sri Lanka and in the early twentieth century, the French explorer Alfred Grandidier, engaged in the study of Madagascar, where today the bulk of these minerals is being extracted, was the first who has described.
Faceted grandidierites exist today in the extremely limited quantities, about two dozen. The approximate cost of the unique mineral is more than 30 thousand dollars per carat.
1. Red Diamond:
Red Diamond is the most expensive representative of its family and concurrently the most expensive gemstone in the world.
In the history of mankind, only a few samples of this mineral were found and most of them have very low weight – less than 0.5 carats. Diamonds of the natural red colour gemmologists call purple-red.
The only place where they can be found is the Argyle diamond mine in Australia, where only several stones are usually being extracted annually. Gems weighing more than 0.1 carats usually appear only at auction, where the price per carat equals to more than one million dollars.
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