20 Rarest Gems In the World That Will Shock You With Their Price Tag

Diamonds are supposed to be the rarest of them all, and while there might be some spectacular, expensive, and rare ones, there are some gems that have the diamond beat in value, rarity, price and beauty. You’ve probably never heard of many of these and some are so precious that there are only three known in the entire world.

Tell your soon-to-be-fiancé not to get his hopes up when you say that you have something different in mind when he starts talking diamonds. Get ready — averaging at $46,000 per carat, most of these will truly break the bank!

Tanzanite’s Spellbinding Blue

Supposedly Tanzanite is a thousand times rarer than a diamond. There’s only a limited supply and they’re found exclusively in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro. Electric blue and violet, the colors fluctuate due to vanadium ions. This stunning gem was given its name by Tiffany & Co. in honor of Tanzania, where they come from and cost around $1,500 per carat.

Royal Demantoids

This brilliant green gem is electrifying; its color ranges from yellowish-green to true emerald green. Demantoids, a member of the garnet family, are valued at about $2,000 per carat, and were first discovered in the Ural Mountains of West Central Russia in the mid-1800s. They’re especially known for having the brilliance and dispersion of a diamond, rare for a typical garnet, and have been coveted by royal families.

Jeremejevite

This rare stone was first discovered in Siberia at the end of the 19th century. Jeremejevite is composed of aluminum and borate minerals, with variable fluoride and hydroxide ions. Costing $2,000 per carat, the stone ranges from colorless to sky blue and pale yellow, and is often mistaken for an aquamarine. The highest quality stones are found in Namibia.

Taaffeite Trumps the Diamond in This Case

This gem ranges from red to purple and costs about $2,000 per carat. Taaffeite (pronounced TAR-fight) is over a million times scarcer than the diamond and can be found in Sri Lanka, Southern Tanzania and China.

Black Opals are from a Different League

The Black Opal flashes a brilliant rainbow of colors and cost $2,355 per carat. With 95% coming from New South Wales, Australia, these gems have supposedly been coveted by kings, emperor, maharajas and sultans throughout history. The black opal is the rarest and most valuable of all the opals, with the Red Fire black opal being the most exotic of this unique type. Definitely way more expensive than a regular opal, it’s still not a bank-breaker.

The Delicate Poudretteite

This lovely soft pink gemstone was first discovered in Quebec, Canada, and costs around $3,000 per carat. Because of its soft nature, the Poudretteite is not suitable for a ring, which would cause more wear and tear to the stone, but is suitable for earrings and pins as long as good care is taken.

The Blueist of Them All

The Benitoite is an electrifying blue stone that is only found in the United States at the San Benito River in San Benito, California. This rare gem glows under UV light and the origin and its fluorescent properties still remain a mystery. The exquisite stone fetches up to $4,000 per carat.

About Those Emeralds

Emeralds come from all over the world, with the largest producer being Columbia. These powerful green gems fetch about $8,000 per carat if they are eye-clean. Eye-clean means free of inclusions to the unaided eye (which is rare with emeralds). Top ones must also be a pure luxuriant green hue and have a high grade of transparency.

Alexadrite’s Varying Colors

The Alexandrite gem comes from Russia and is named after the Russian tsar, Alexander II. In the same family as emeralds, the gem has a mysterious quality of fluctuating colors. From blueish-green in sunlight to reddish-purple under incandescent light, this enchanting beauty costs about $10,000 per carat.

The Red Beryl Emerald

This Red Beryl Emerald is found in Utah and reportedly in Mexico. Going for $10,000 per carat, there are very few of these gooseberry red gems. A family member of emeralds, morganite, golden beryl, goshenite and aquamarine, supposedly only one red beryl emerald is found for every 150,000 diamonds mined.

Paraiba Tourmaline, The Fairest of Them All

This illustrious gem comes from Paraiba, Brazil, and goes for a whopping $12,000 per carat. An otherworldly blue, the color of the Paraiba Tourmaline also has an unusual depth due to the natural threads of copper that run through it. It can’t take a lot of handling so it’s probably best as an “every-now-and-then” ring or as a pair of earrings.

Pezzottaite, the Sunset Gem

This breathtaking gemstone was discovered in Southern Madagascar and can cost up to $13,000 per carat. It has a dynamic sunset color range, from orange-red, to pink, to raspberry red. Also referred to as a raspberry beryl stone, Pezzottaite can have the cat’s eye effect (called chatoyancy), which gives an optical reflecting affect across the stone.

Padparadscha, the Lotus Flower Gem

This beauty from the sapphire family can cost up to $30,000 per carat. Extremely rare, it was discovered in Sri Lanka, but has since been found in Vietnam and parts of East Africa. The name Padparadscha is derived from Sanskrit and translates to “lotus color,” and much like the lotus flower, the gem is a pinkish-orange mixture of varying scales.

Musgravite, the Newest and Rarest

With origins in Australia and later found in Greenland and Iceland, the Musgravite is one of the newest and rarest of all. Costing $35,000 per carat, this beauty is a member of the taaffeite family of minerals and contains beryllium, magnesium and aluminum. The color ranges from a brilliant greenish-grey to deep purple.

Painite Causes Pain to Your Wallet

This Painite was discovered in Myanmar (Burma) and remains one of the rarest finds today, fetching up to $60,000 per carat. Since its discovery in the 1950s, there were only about 25 in the world — until 2005. The colors range from pink, to red, to brown and can resemble a traditional garnet. The hues will change according to the angle and appears fluorescent under UV light.

Grandest Colors of Grandidierite

This very rare, exquisite gem can set you back up to $100,000 per carat. Grandidierite mostly comes from Madagascar and emits blue, green and white light. Supposedly there are only a few hundred around and as with many stones, the deeper the hues, the more valuable, although with that kinda price tag, it’s not likely you’ll get the lower quality ones for a steal by any means!

Blue Garnet, a Magical Illusion

Garnets usually bring the brownish red gem to mind, as it is the most common of the garnets. But if the garnet is blue, it’s on a different playing field altogether. The Blue Garnet is a rare gem that was discovered in Madagascar and has an unusual color scale. It is blue-green in sunlight and under incandescent light, it’s purple (because of the mineral vanadium). These beauties go for up to $1.5 million per carat.

The Illusive Serendibite

This magnificent gem, Serendibite, comes from Sri Lanka and can command up to $2 million per carat. The extremely rare stone contains calcium, magnesium, aluminum, silicon, boron and oxygen and has a color scale that ranges from almost black to near colorless. How rare is it? Supposedly only 3 faceted Serendibites exist in the entire world!

A Girl’s Real Best Friend: Red Diamonds

We’ve all know about the most famous gem in the world, the diamond, but amongst the diamond, there are some unique ones that you may have never heard about. One is the Red Diamond and it is so rare that even diamond dealers likely haven’t seen one. They’re a purplish red and it’s believed there are only about 50 in the world. Very few are found and they fetch up to $2.5 million per carat.

The Most Expensive, Jadeite

There are two types of jade known in the world. The traditional Chinese jade, which is the common one, is called nephrite and starts at around $2 per pound (no, not carats). Then there’s the other jade, Jadeite (the imperial jade), and it gets its color from the traces of chromium in it. It’s so rare and valuable that in 1997, 27 jadeite beads (.5mm each) sold for $9.3 million! Most jadeite is found in upper Burma and costs up to $3 million per carat.