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Since early times, gems and jewels have been used as a reflection of one’s wealth and status in life. Cleopatra had her famous jewels, all of which were encrusted with expensive gemstones. What seem like merely different stones that emit a sparkle and different hue have turned out to be some of the rarest and most sought after gems in the world.
Here is a list of some really rare items. So rare that their prices have become so exorbitant, making them the top ten most expensive gemstones in the world.
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JADEITE – MORE THAN $3 MILLION PER CARAT
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This gemstone is actually a pyroxene mineral, usually of apple green, emerald green, bluish green or leek green in color. There have also been some that are either greenish white or white with some green spots. Jadeites are colorless in the thin section of the stone. The more intense the green, the more expensive the stone will get. The Chinese, however, also value the white jadeite with green spots. A deep blue-green jadeite that emits a translucent hue has also been discovered in recent times in Guatemala. While it is considered valuable because of historical reasons as the Mesoamerican Olmec used it, the rarity of this specific kind of jadeite has yet to be established. Once the Guatemalans start actively mining for it and confirms its rarity, the value may increase even more.
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THE TOP 10 MOST EXPENSIVE GEMSTONES IN THE WORLD
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RED DIAMONDS – $2 MILLION TO 2.5 MILLION PER CARAT
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This gemstone is very rare. Most of it are actually purplish red, and not crimson or pure red. A mining company located in Australia gets to find only a small number of red diamonds every year. These are then sold at an auction once every couple of years, and you can just imagine the interest, demand and price that the red diamonds command.
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THE TOP 10 MOST EXPENSIVE GEMSTONES IN THE WORLD
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SERENDIBITE – $1.8 MILLION TO 2 MILLION PER CARAT
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The serendibite gemstone is an extremely rare mineral that bears boron. Only two areas have been known to produce quality serendibite, namely Ratanapura in Sri Lanka and Mogok in northern Burma. Most of the serendibites found are blue green, grayish blue or pale yellow with a white streak.
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THE TOP 10 MOST EXPENSIVE GEMSTONES IN THE WORLD
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BLUE GARNET – $1.5 MILLION PER CARAT
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There are many kinds of garnet in the market. You can find it in a variety of colors, from black, brown, green, orange, pink, purple, red and yellow. There have even been some that do not have any color. But none can compare to the price of the blue garnet. This gemstone was discovered in Madagascar in the 1990s, though it has since been mined in Russia, the United States and Turkey as well. While it has a blue green shade, the generous amount of vanadium in the stone makes it emit a purplish hue when it is held against incandescent lighting.
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THE TOP 10 MOST EXPENSIVE GEMSTONES IN THE WORLD
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GRANDIDIERITE – $100,000 PER CARAT
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Alfred Grandidier was a natural historian famed in the archaeology world for his discovery in Madagascar of the skeletons and remains of an elephant bird that weighed half a ton and that has been extinct for thousands of years. He is also famous in the world of gemology for discovering in Sri Lanka a rare stone that transmits blue, green and white light. Initially, they thought it was the gemstone serendibite, but after closer scrutiny, gemologists concluded that it was a totally new stone. It was thereafter named after Grandidier.
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THE TOP 10 MOST EXPENSIVE GEMSTONES IN THE WORLD
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PAINITE – $50,000 – 60,000 PER CARAT
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Discovered in the 1950s by the Englishman Arthur C. Pain, painite is a rare borate material. It has a natural hexagon shape and has an orange-red or brownish-red color. Trace amounts of iron, vanadium and chromium are present in the stone. While it used to be the rarest stone in the world, more have been unearthed and discovered in Burma recently.
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THE TOP 10 MOST EXPENSIVE GEMSTONES IN THE WORLD
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MUSGRAVITE – $35,000 PER CARAT
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This gemstone is actually a silicate mineral that was first discovered in Australia in an area called Musgrave. While similar minerals have since been unearthed in Madagascar, Greenland and Sri Lanka, it is still considered very rare. There are trace amounts of aluminum, berrylium and magnesium present in the stone.
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THE TOP 10 MOST EXPENSIVE GEMSTONES IN THE WORLD
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BIXBITE – $10,000 PER CARAT
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This gemstone is also known as the red beryl emerald. It is very rare and has been found only in a couple of places in Utah called Juab County and Beaver County, and in Sierra County in New Mexico. Most of the red beryl that are gem-grade can be found in Violet Claim. This is located in the Wah Wah Mountains of midwest Utah. A Filmore, Utah local named Lamar Hodges discovered the bixbites by accident. He was a mineral prospector who was actually looking for uranium when he stumbled upon the red beryls.
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THE TOP 10 MOST EXPENSIVE GEMSTONES IN THE WORLD
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BLACK OPAL – $2,355 PER CARAT
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Opal is the national gemstone of Australia, which produces 97 percent of the world’s supply. The southern portion of the country alone produces 80 percent of all opals. Opal is not a mineral, as it is actually an amorphous form of silica that is related to quartz. Up to 20 percent of the stone’s weight is made up of water. The internal structure of this gemstone makes it diffract light, and it may come in a variety of colors ranging from blue, brown, gray, green, magenta, olive, orange, pink, red, rose, slate, white and yellow. But the most rare and most expensive are the black opals. The stone has also been unearthed in Brazil, Mexico, the United States, Mali and Ethiopia.
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THE TOP 10 MOST EXPENSIVE GEMSTONES IN THE WORLD
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JEREMEJEVITE – $2000 PER CARAT
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This gemstone is actually made of aluminum borate mineral with fluoride and hydroxide ions. Pavel Vladimirovich Eremeev discovered it in Siberia. Most of this stone are colored blue or yellow. White and colorless versions of this gem have also been discovered. Jeremejevite has since been unearthed in other areas as well, notably in Namibia, the Eifel District in Germany and the Pamir Mountain area in Tajikistan.
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THE TOP 10 MOST EXPENSIVE GEMSTONES IN THE WORLD
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