The World of Rare Stones: Painite is the World's Rarest Gem

by Tracy Coenen (RSS feed)
Jan 31st 2008 at 8:02AM

The world's rarest gem is believed to be painite, a gem that most have never even heard of. Rarity does not equate to beauty in gems, however. The painite is an orangish or reddish brown, with the brown tint coming from iron in the crystal. It was first discovered in Burma in the 1950s and was widely considered to be the rarest of all gems, with only two faceted crystals in existence. Within the last couple of years, however, the source of the original painite crystals was discovered, and now a few hundred faceted stones exist.

A more widely recognized (but still very rare) gem is the red diamond. There are many more red diamonds available than some other rare gems, but very large red diamonds are extremely rare. The largest cut natural red diamond may be the one owned by Moussaieff Jewellers Ltd, a 5.11 carat trillion cut.

The rare blue diamond, made famous by the Hope Diamond, gets its deep blue color from traces of boron in the stone. It is a natural blue diamond, in contrast with most of today's blue diamonds, which are turned from clear to blue with a process involving irradiation and heat.

The Hope Diamond was believed to be originally over 112 carats, but was poorly cut. It was recut in the 1600's, resulting in a stone just over 67 carats. It changed hands many times, and got its name from Henry Philip Hope, who acquired the diamond in 1839. After it changed hands a few more times, the Hope Diamond came to rest in the care of the Smithsonian, and now weighs over 45 carats.

Tags: blue diamond, BlueDiamond, hope diamond, HopeDiamond, painite, red diamond, RedDiamond

Source

Subscribe to these comments

Reader Comments (Page 3 of 3)

mary Feb 29th 2008 6:40PM

I have cubic Zirconia stones that even a jeweler was stunned at once. It is set in 14 c gold, and is beautiful. I recently wore it to a wedding and got many compliments on it.

john charter Mar 4th 2008 10:35PM

Actually the Chameleon Diamond is one of the rarest and little known. These are the only gem that ACTUALLY changes body color. You can think of those sunglasses that change from clear to grey when exposed to light. The chameleon diamond becomes golden yellow when kept in total darknesss for a day or two and then becomes green right before you eyes as it is brought out into the light. Alexandrites change color from daylight to "candlelight" as a byproduct of the predominant wavelengths of light in the light source. Chameloeons actually change color as a RESULT of being exposed to any light. It would be difficult to locate more than a couple of hundred Chameleon Diamonds.

John Charter RGG-GIA

eddie Mar 17th 2008 2:42AM

The large rubies are the most expensive gems in the world...

Belladonaitalia Apr 24th 2008 2:37PM

"JTV"S" stock sure must be soaring. Some posters have actually posted verbatum their sales pitch. If in doubt or if you want ACTUAL,TRUE Facts check with the GIA...I am a graduate & I love listening to names & descriptions of so called "gemstones". In the "REAL" world these gemstones sell for perhaps 3 to 4 hundred a carat but you can buy it today for the next 5 minutes for $79.99 for a two carat stone.

The worst hucksters are HSN, QVC, Shop NBC & JTV in that order. You know the old addage if it seems too good.....

I've called these shows & asked certain pertainent questions as to clarity, inclusions etc....I'm told the vendor hasn't provided that info. The only venue that "sometimes" tells the truth is SHOPNBC. I have purchased items from all as a test & found that most lie. Of course all items were returned-----The worst HSN

Do you know that in Europe 10K gold is considered costume jewelry & today so called precious stones are being set in it. Europeans only wear 18K. In Italy especially there are two manufacturing processess one for "silly Americans' & one for the rest of the world. Artform aka electroform was developed for the American consumer who wants a huge piece but doesn't want to invest in the huge price....the piece is hollow in the center, it dents; a few years ago at Oro Arezzo it was a joke, now everyone is importing it into the states...Europeans wouldn't go near it.

My advice Buyer beware......

Mueeza Zafar Jun 25th 2008 9:31PM

What does anyone think of the pink Beryl gemstone Bixbite (red emerald from Utah). Where does this rank in rarity, and value.

Previous 20 Comments

Add your comments

Your comments:

Remember me

E-Mail me when someone replies to this comment

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.