15 Most Rare Gemstones in the World

Are you one among those who are fond of gemstones? If yes, you are at the right place as we are going to share here the 15 rarest gemstones in the world.

Well, there are a number of gemstones and minerals in the jewelry world and even on our planet earth which is indeed very rare. Few of them like rubies, sapphires, select types of diamonds, or perfect round-shaped natural pearls are probably known to all of us.

However, there are a few rare gemstones that you might not even heard of. Such gemstones are still available for commercial use but in very limited quantity and are sold in the jewelry world at skyrocketing prices, thereby making it a dream come true for an average consumer to place his/her hands on them.

Most Rare Gemstones in the World

The reason for certain gemstones to be incredibly rare is because:

• They are found only in one or two places on this planet.
• It is indeed very difficult to mine them.

List of the 15 Most Rare Gemstones in the World

So, here we go with our compiled list of the 15 Rarest Gemstones around the world. Check them out below!

1. Ammolite

The rare gemstone Ammolite is an organic gemstone that is similar to coral or shell having derived from sea animals. It can be found only in limited deposits in the United States’ Rocky Mountains.

Ammolite is a valuable gemstone owing to its unique property that shows beautiful innumerable incandescent colors including any color of a rainbow on the stone.

Also, the very limited availability of the stone makes Ammolite a highly valued gemstone. What is interesting is that the price of this gemstone is directly proportional to the number of colors it displays. That is, the more the display colors on the stone, the more the cost of the stone.

2. Tanzanite

Tanzanite is one of the rarest gemstones which can be found only in one location – near Mount Kilimanjaro’s foot in Tanzania. This gemstone is a blue variety of the mineral Zoisite.

In the 1960s, this beautiful gemstone was found for the first time in commercial quantities. With the support from jewelers like Tiffany and Co., the stone became highly popular and successful from then.

It is also anticipated that this gemstone would become more expensive as there is only one source of mines where it can be found currently.

Moreover, if those mines also run dry, then you cannot find new Tanzanites coming out in the market unless there happens to be any new source. As such, Tanzanite is also referred to as “one-generation gemstone”.

3. Red Diamonds

Well, diamonds themselves hold a significant value as rare gemstones. However, Red Diamonds which are a color variation of the diamonds are considered to be the rarest as well as the most expensive type of diamonds.

The Red diamonds are preferred by those looking for the best of the best which carry exorbitant price tags at auctions. The Moussaieff Red is considered as the most expensive red diamond which is said to be priced at around $8 million.

4. Alexandrite

Alexandrite is an emerald rare gemstone that boasts to have attractive color-changing properties. This beautiful gemstone which is a variation of Chrysoberyl has the ability to change its color based on the source of the light falling on it.

To cite an example, in a classic Alexandrite gemstone one can see the color change from green in daylight to slightly purple-red in incandescent light.

Well, coming to the cost, Alexandrite gemstones of high quality carry higher price tags in comparison to colorless diamonds. You can find them more expensive than the regular stone-like emeralds, sapphires, and rubies. You might have to shell out over $30,000 per carat to place your hands on a high-quality Alexandrite.

5. Painite

Painite was first found in the year 1951 by British gemologist Arthur Charles Davy Pain in Burma. This rare gemstone made its way even to the Guinness Book of World Records which mentioned Painite as the “World’s Rarest Mineral”.

Well, there were just two specimens of this gemstone existing then. Also, the fact that only 24 Painite gemstones were found by 2004 clearly speaks about the scarcity of this gemstone.

Interestingly, it is now said that there are over 1000 Painite gemstones available, thanks to Myanmar which opened a couple of mines in recent years to produce this gemstone. However, even this number appears very small in comparison to 133 million carats of diamonds (approximately) produced every year.

One carat of Painite costs more than $60,000 which shows how expensive it is indeed!

6. Musgravite

Musgravite happened to be an unknown gemstone until its discovery in the year 1967. This rare and beautiful gemstone was first found in Musgravite Range in South Australia. Later, these dark-blue gemstones were also discovered in very limited quantities in Antarctica, Madagascar, and Greenland.

Well to your surprise, only eight specimens of Musgravite gemstones were recognized by the Gemological Institute of America as of 2005 on this planet, which were pure as well as sufficiently large to be cut to shape.

7. Larimar

These rare Larimar gemstones can only be found near the mountain range of the Dominican Republic, in the Caribbean. Larimar stones are a variety of silicate mineral pectolite.  The color of these gemstones varies from white, light-blue, green-blue to deep blue.

Larimar stones came into the limelight in 1974 after they were rediscovered and named by Miguel Méndez as Larimar – Larissa is the name of Miguel’s daughter and mar is the Spanish word for sea. After the 1970s, proper mining of Larimar started there. However, Larimar is considered to be an extremely rare gemstone as it is mined only in one place.

8. Taaffeite

This rare gemstone got its name after it was discovered by Richard Taaffe. Well, Taaffeite is very similar to spinel and it becomes tough to identify it too.

Richard Taaffe found a cut and polished gem, Taaffeite in a jeweler’s shop in Dublin, Ireland in the year 1945. He actually had a gemstone that he thought to be spinel but when he took it to the jeweler in Dublin, it was identified as a rare gemstone and was unveiled to the world as Taaffeite.

Following its discovery, many other specimens of Taaffeite were found in the collection of gemologists. And then the main source of these rare precious gemstones was found to be Sri Lanka while a few stones were from China and Tanzania.

Moreover, till date, only 50 Taaffeite gemstones have been found, making them one of the rarest gemstones on this planet.

9. Jadeite

Jadeite gemstones are the rarest and the more expensive variety of jade while the other variety is nephrite. This green-hued gemstone is an ancient gemstone in Chinese, Mayan as well as Maori legends.

The color of this precious gemstone ranges from white through pale apple green to deep jade green. However, you can also find Jadeite in few other colors like bluish-green, pink, and lavender along with a bunch of other rare colors.

10. Red Beryl

Red Beryl is an extremely rare variety of the beryl family with emerald and aquamarine being its better-known varieties. This gemstone gets its red color from trace amounts of manganese. Bixbite, Red Emerald, and Scarlet Emerald are the other names given to Red Beryl.

According to the Utah Geological Survey, only one red beryl crystal is found for every 150,000 gem-quality diamonds. Red Beryl is found at a few locations in Utah, New Mexico, and Mexico.

Owing to the mining challenges of this rare gemstone, Red Beryl is said to be 8,000 times rarer than the similar red rubies (Red rubies themselves are extremely rare gemstones).

11. Black Opal

Black opals which are exceptionally rare gemstones are found only in the Lightning Ridge mines of New South Wales, Australia. The black opals are deep black or dark blue colored which looks stunning owing to their rainbow array of colors which emit light as the stone moves.

Using these rare gemstones, one can design beautiful unique jewelry as well as rings that would stand a class apart. However Black opals carry huge price tags owing to their rarity. ‘Aurora Australis’ is one of the most expensive black opal gemstones, found in 1938. The 180-carat opal was valued at AUS $1,000,000 or 763,000 USD in 2005.

12. Grandidierite

This extremely rare blue-green mineral was first found in Madagascar by French mineralogist Alfred Lacroix in 1902. It was named Grandidierite to honor the French explorer Alfred Grandidier.

Grandidierite is found in numerous places across the world, however, the gem-quality stones have been produced only in Madagascar and Sri Lanka as of now.

13. Benitoite

Benitoite gemstones can only be found near California’s San Benito River, that too in very limited quantities.

These rare deep-blue colored gemstones reflect stunning fire-like light dispersion which is more attractive than those of many diamonds. These gemstones are usually available in small sizes.

14. Poudretteite

Poudretteite is a beautiful light-pink-colored gemstone that was found in Mont St. Hilaire, in Quebec, Canada in the 1960s.

However, what is interesting is that the first gem-quality Poudretteite was found in 2000 in Burma. This gemstone of 9.41-carat is placed for display at the Smithsonian Museum.

15. Jeremejevite

The rare gemstone Jeremejevite was first found in Siberia’s Lake Baikal in the year 1833. These extremely stunning gemstones were also found in Namibia, however, in very few quantities.

Hardly anyone might have heard of this Jeremejevite because these gemstones are mined in very limited quantities. Usually, Jeremejevite crystals are found to be colorless, white, or in lighter shades of yellow and blue.

Well, which gemstone from our list did you find the most attractive? Share your feedback in our comments sections.