Here is a list of some of the most expensive gemstones in the world.
Gemstones have been recognized for their rareness and beauty since the ancient times. In the 19th century, terms precious and semi – precious stones were coined. Precious stones referred to diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires, while all other gemstones were classified as semi-precious. This classification has now been rejected, because there are many differences and qualities of one kind of gemstone which resembles the price, for example, diamond qualities differ so much that their prices can differ in millions per karat.
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Gemstones are some crystal minerals, rocks and organic materials (like amber or pearl) that are used as jewelry because of their properties and characteristics. Those properties are chemical composition, hardness (being at the top on the Mohs scale of hardness), density, translucency, cleavage, luster. Or, as gemologists would say, in order to rank a gemstone you need to follow the 4 Cs rule – cut, clarity, color, and karat weight. One more important characteristic that also raises prices is their rarity. Although all gemstones are pretty rare, which makes them very expensive, you will see the rarest of them further down on the list.
Prices of gemstones are determined by the combination of their characteristics and are expressed through karats (abbreviated as CD, and not to be confused with karat, the value of gold alloys purity). Karats are mass units used as a measure of gemstones where one karat equals 0.2 grams. So, that was the criteria we have also used here to rank the most expensive gemstones on our list. But, the prices vary, of course, and pricing lists are usually not transparently available. We have gained and compared the information from several sources, some of them being Gem Rock Auctions, Diamond Rocks, Ratna Sagar Jewels and Gem Society. Of course, the bigger the gemstone, the higher the price, so take a look at 11 Biggest Gemstones in the World.
Gemstones are much appreciated as jewelry of course, but some specimens, especially the rarest ones are in the hands of collectors and represent the enormous wealth. The treasure hunt for the rarest of them has also contributed in locating many new deposits of these gemstones. Even that being the case, the price of some of them does not fall down. So, let’s now discover what those most expensive gemstones in the world are:
