Did you know there are rare gemstones more valuable than diamonds? It's easy to assume you've seen all of the most rare and unique gems. After all, diamonds are valuable and remain the most popular choice for many jewelry lovers.
Here are 10 rare gemstones to consider for your next custom jewelry design:
Rare Gemstones 1: Grandidierite
Grandidierite is a garnet mineral exclusively from Madagascar. Its color ranges from brownish to purplish red. Its crystals are transparent to translucent, with a luster that looks like faceted rubies or sapphires. Synthetic Grandidierite is more affordable if you love the look but can't afford natural stones, which range between $1000 and $25,000 per carat.
Rare Gemstones 2: Taaffeite
Taaffeite is a violet-blue gemstone with deposits in parts of Canada, Japan, Sweden, Norway, and Madagascar. Its name refers to a mineralogist, Sir Thomas Taaffe, who found the very first one already cut in a jeweler's shop in Dublin, Ireland. It's the only gemstone initially identified from an already faceted stone.
Rare Gemstones 3: Jeremejevite
Jeremejevite is a blue-green gemstone, one of the rarest gemstones in the world, from Russia. Folklore says Jeremejevite brings good luck, peace, and prosperity to its wearer. It also helps overcome personal problems and provides strength during adversity.
Rare Gemstones 4: Alexandrite
Alexandrite is the most expensive gemstone in the world, in great demand for its ability to change color—green-to-red or red-to-green—as you hold it to the light. It takes its name from the Russian Czar Alexander II for his love for fine things like Fabrage Eggs and elaborate jewelry.
Rare Gemstones 5: Red Beryl
The name beryl comes from the Greek word "to shine" or "shining stone." Beryl is a very hard mineral made of a silicate of beryllium and aluminum. In its purest form, its hexagonal prisms appear colorless. Color variations like pale blue-green (aquamarine), deep green (emerald); golden yellow (heliodor); and pink (morganite) occur when impurities are present. Red Beryl is the rarest and most valuable color.
Rare Gemstones 6: Benitoite
Benitoite is a blue-green silicate mineral and the official state gemstone of California. Relics of volcano eruptions over 100 million years ago, these rare gemstones form when hydrothermal fluids react with serpentine rock and create insertion of quartz within the core of a benitoite crystal. Sadly, few large benitoite deposits survive. Mining in these areas destroyed much of the supply—but some lucky explorers can still find some today.
Rare Gemstones 7: Painite
Painite, part of the Garnet family, is the rarest gemstone on Earth. This light red to orange-brown jewel is "the most precious and valuable material known to man." While you're unlikely to stumble upon it yourself, some Painite is still being unearthed in Myanmar.Rare Gemstones 8: Poudretteite
Poudretteite is a beautiful deep blue-green gemstone unearthed in the 1980s by the Poudrette family in their quarry at Mont St. Hilaire, Quebec. The family sold the quarry to geologists and collectors for scientific study and research. Poudretteite is highly sought after by collectors who refer to the stone as "Mont Saint-Hilaire Blue" or "Mont Saint-Hilaire Green," depending on the color of the individual stone.
Rare Gemstones 9: Musgravite
Musgravite comes in shades of green, orange, and yellow. The only deposit lies near Italy's Mount Vesuvius. Small supplies come with high prices and strict mining regulations. You must submit an application with personal information and details about why you wish to mine there. If they approve your application, they'll send out paperwork detailing on-site work before digging starts.
Rare Gemstones 10: Red Diamonds
Red diamonds are much rarer than colors like pink, yellow, blue, and the very rare natural black diamond. Only one in 10,000 natural diamonds are colored diamonds, and only a portion of these colored diamonds are black. Luckily, you can find Red diamonds in many different places around the world, although there are mines where conditions best suit their growing (like in Africa).
The world has many gemstones rarer than diamonds, including some that are so rare they could be extinct within 100 years!
If you're looking for something rare and unique but not as common as diamonds, there's no shortage of options.
Our family has been in the gemstone wholesale business for generations. We can source any stone you desire for any custom piece you can imagine.
Contact us to arrange a consultation. We can chat in person or via video chat.
