The magic of gems
Diamonds are stones with amazing magic; they can conquer a person instantly. Since ancient times, amulets have been decorated with jewelry, which were considered to protect a person from everything bad. Some believed that with the help of stones one could find out the future. Later, when the composition of the gems was studied, it turned out that they were very durable. It is this property that is very valuable in them. People who had the most expensive diamonds were delighted with them.
Uncut expensive diamonds
Gems simply “burn” in the sun. The price of the stone depends on the processing and color. Their shape is most often round; colorless ones are rare. Its transparency only increases the price. However, colored stones are more expensive than white ones. They can have the following shades:
- pink;
- green;
- yellow;
- red;
- blue;
- black;
- orange;
Precious orange diamonds
- brown;
- purple.
Apollo and Artemis
Photo:Oracle Time
The Apollo Blue is a 14.54 carat fancy vivid blue diamond. The Artemis Pink is a bright pink pear weighing 16 carats.
According to Sotheby's, the Apollo is the largest fancy bright blue diamond ever offered at auction.
The Gemological Institute of America classifies the stone as Type IIb, which is awarded to less than 1% of diamonds worldwide.
The Artemis Pink diamond is grade IIa by the GIA, another category that characterizes the purest diamonds.
In May 2021, the diamonds were auctioned at Sotheby's.
Artemis sold for $15.3 million, and Apollo sold for $42.1 million.
Description and properties of the stone
The sizes of red diamonds are small, up to 0.5 carats. It is mined mainly at the Argyll spring, located in Australia. Representatives weighing more than 0.1 carats can be found at auction sales. The price of the gem is quite high. The most expensive gemstone in the world has only carbon in its chemical composition. It is a crystal lattice in the form of a face-centered cube with atoms at the vertices.
There are 4 more atoms inside. In the thickness of the earth they all become very hot and subject to pressure. Thus, a compacted “packing” of atoms in a covalent bond is formed, which helps characterize the stone as very durable.
Tsavorite garnet
Tsavorite is a jewelry variety of grossular garnet. The typical color is green with a slightly yellowish tint. This is a relatively new stone on the international scene. It was discovered about 50 years ago in Tsavo National Park in Kenya. Nowadays it is also mined in Tanzania, less often in Madagascar. Since 1974, the jewelry company Tiffany&Co has been promoting the new gem to the market.
Today it can be seen in products of major jewelry brands. The weight of tsavorites rarely exceeds 3 carats. Larger specimens are typically deep green in color, caused by the presence of chromium and vanadium impurities. It is worth noting that tsavorite is one of the few precious stones that are not subject to any types of refining. The best 5-carat specimens can cost $5,000-$6,000 per carat.
Meaning and education
The diamond itself is quite hard. Thanks to this property, it got its name. Translated from Arabic “al-mas”, which means “the hardest”. Even in ancient times, an uncut stone was considered an exquisite decoration and had currency value.
An example of an uncut diamond
One of the reliable stories of the formation of diamonds is considered to be of magmatic origin. Carbon atoms form at great depths like diamonds and are carried to the surface by magma.
There is also a meteorite version of the formation of gems. The raw crystals themselves are unsightly in appearance. They look like matte and rough grains up to 5 mm in size.
When mining you can find:
- isolated crystals;
- fused small crystals;
Appearance of a diamond in nature
- several hundred cobbled-together units.
The most expensive minerals in the world
Jewelry and decorations with the addition of precious stones are a fairly common tourist souvenir; many take the opportunity to purchase such valuable items on favorable terms.
However, tourists do not take the most expensive minerals in order to avoid fraud and theft. But what can you tell us about the most valuable and expensive minerals of our planet?
Red beryl
Red beryl is a rare mineral that is found very rarely in nature; its main deposit is located in the United States, Utah.
A carat can fetch more than ten thousand dollars. Interestingly, in nature beryl itself is colorless; it turns red due to the presence of silicate and aluminum impurities in it.
Alexandrite
The first chrysoberyl found, discovered back in 1830 in the Urals. It has a very interesting visual property - depending on the lighting, it can change its color to a radically opposite shade. A carat can fetch more than 12 thousand dollars.
Diamonds
The purest carbons, formed over many millions of years in the bowels of the earth. Diamonds are not only beautiful, but also useful; they are actively used in various industries, because they are extremely durable.
It’s not in vain that it’s said about millions of years - natural diamonds are formed in special kimberlite pipes, which are over one billion years old. You can get about 15-20 thousand dollars per carat; cut diamonds can cost many times more.
Grandidierite
A rare mineral, a natural mixture of iron, aluminum, magnesium. It has a greenish-bluish color range, and depending on the specific composition, the color can vary from predominantly green to predominantly blue. The price per carat is about 20 thousand dollars.
Taaffeit
A very rare mineral, discovered completely by accident by Count Richard Taaffe from Ireland. The official name of the stone is Magnesiotaaffeite-2N2S. It is believed that this stone is a million times rarer than a diamond, but only jewelers use it.
Red diamond
Or a diamond among diamonds, the rarest example of carbon in the world. A diamond gets its red hue not because of impurities in it, but because of how its structure is formed - the red color is the result of deformation of its crystal lattice.
This makes the mineral one of the rarest in the world. A carat can fetch about a million dollars. The largest red diamond in the world weighs about 1 gram or 5 carats.
Places of formation of precious gems
Diamonds are mined on all continents, but their deposits are not equal everywhere. They are located in areas where rock layers lie horizontally and are divided into types:
- primary, formed on magma;
- secondary, formed by placers, resulting from the destruction of deposits.
About 85% of diamonds are mined from deposits similar to a cone-shaped pipe called kimberlite or lamproite.
Stone processing
As already mentioned, the initial appearance of the diamond is quite unsightly. A “play of light” can only be achieved after significant processing, i.e. cutting. During this process, what happens:
- elimination of cracks, chips and other defects;
- ordering the arrangement of edges;
- the effect of a mirror surface of the edges is achieved.
Process of processing precious stones
Grinding occurs using a cast iron disc containing diamond powder.
It is noteworthy that the faces are arranged in such a way that the crystal reflects light, but does not absorb it. Multi-colored rays are refracted and the stone shines in different colors. Cutting work can take a long time, up to several months or even years. The craftsmen come out with semi-precious stones that are half or even a third lighter in weight - diamonds, but their cost increases several times.
Famous precious diamonds
Cullinan
Photo: Science Source
The diamond was found on January 26, 1905 in South Africa in the Premier mine and was probably a fragment of a very large octahedral crystal, which was not discovered.
The stone was named after the mine owner, Thomas Cullinan.
It took two years to cut the fragments received from Cullinan: in total, 2 huge, 7 large and 96 small diamonds were produced, their total weight was 1063.65 carats.
The value of all the stones that were made from the large Cullinan stone is estimated to be over $2 billion.
Cut shapes
The cut of diamonds characterizes their appearance. There are mainly 3 methods of processing gems:
- With a diamond cut, the facets are arranged in an order similar to a checkerboard pattern, and the contours of the facets resemble diamonds or triangles. This is how round stones are processed.
- Stepped processing looks like this: the edges go one above the other like isosceles triangles or trapezoids. They work in a similar way on rectangular gems.
- Small stones are processed with rose or rosette. The result is a flat base with a convex top that collects the edges. The play of light here is not strong and the cost of these stones is much lower.
The most expensive stones in the world from diamond to painite
Precious stones have always captured people's imagination. They were always able to captivate anyone with their play of light. Fascinated by the beauty of the stones, people began to use them as amulets against the evil eye.
Sorcerers and priests used them to predict the future. And only much later, precious stones began to be used as decoration and their value was determined depending on color, brilliance, beauty, purity, and hardness.
Other gems
If you make the Top 10 most expensive gems in the world, then the red diamond, of course, will take first place.
2nd place
The second position can rightfully be given to grandidierite - a rare stone expressed in green-blue shades.
This is what a grandidierite gemstone looks like
. It must be said that some of the most expensive gemstones in the world are found infrequently, one might say, once every few years. They have complex names; many are named after the names of their discoverers. So this stone was first found by the Frenchman Alfred Grandidier.
An example of processed grandidierite
The gem is found in Madagascar, although it was originally found in Sri Lanka, and is also available in the USA, New Zealand, Norway, and Italy. Today there is data on different quantities of minerals, but there are no more than 20 of them. The cost of a copy reaches up to three tens of thousands of dollars.
Sapphire "Star of Adam"
The sapphire weighing 1404.49 carats was mined in the city of Ratnaputra (Sri Lanka).
The color of the stone is blue with inclusions, and a distinct six-pointed asterism is visible in the center. The Star of Adam weighs a whopping 1,404.49 carats.
The stone received the name “Star of Adam”, since according to Muslim beliefs, Adam, after being expelled from the Gardens of Eden, ended up in Sri Lanka.
This stone was also mined in Sri Lanka in December 2012 and has an estimated value of $300 million.
More gems
It would be unfair not to remember the beautiful pearls. It has a place of honor in the list of precious stones. It is formed in a very interesting way - in the body of the oyster. Any foreign object that gets into the shell will be pushed out with the help of the released nacre. Stones with a thick layer of mother-of-pearl are elegant and not cheap. An interesting fact is that pearls are used without being processed.
Jewelry with pearls
Modern stones sold in stores are cultured, i.e. grown artificially. The bead is placed in the shell, pearls grow, but there is less layer of mother-of-pearl on it. Watch the video for an overview of the most expensive gems.
Almaz Kohinoor
- Location : UK
- Price : considered priceless
When a diamond is expensive, it is good, but when it is priceless, it is even more impressive. This is the best example of how valuable a stone can be. And the thing is that he is in the crown of the British royal family. This automatically makes a 106-carat diamond the most valuable and desirable stone - but there is only one way to get it - by becoming a queen. And this, as we all understand, is not so simple.
© Alexander Ivanov, dealinda.ru
Healing properties of gemstones
Many gems have incredible energy potential, positive vibrations, and this allows you to cure many diseases:
Existing types of gems
- various inflammations;
- skin diseases;
- bronchopulmonary, gastrointestinal diseases;
- have a good effect on a person’s mental state;
- normalize the functioning of the cardiovascular system;
- have a positive effect on female organs.
