04:28
Faizan
Gemstones represent concentrated wealth. If you hold a valuable gemstone, you could enclose a fortune in the palm of your hand. The most valuable of them sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars per carat. Rarity is only one factor that influences a gem's value; the stone's beauty, size, clarity and demand also determine its price. The four precious gems - diamond, emerald, ruby and sapphire - fetch the highest prices overall, but individual specimens of other gems eclipse even these precious stones.
Diamond
A flawless white diamond of good clarity is worth thousands of dollars per carat. Despite their high price, though, diamonds are far from rare. What drives their price up is the balance of supply and demand; buyers prize these beautiful gems so much for engagement, wedding and anniversary jewelry that diamonds always have value. Some diamonds are rarer than others. Colorful "fancy" diamonds naturally have a noticeable hue. Yellow canary diamonds are the most common color other than white, but diamonds also come in pink, green, brown, blue and exceedingly rare red.
Emerald
The most valuable member of the extensive beryl family of gems, emerald can bring a higher price than a diamond of equivalent quality. Emeralds get their name from an ancient Greek word for their vivid green hue. These gems are more fragile than their hardness of 7.5 to 8 on the Mohs hardness scale would suggest; natural emerald typically has inclusions and fractures that weaken the stone. A clear emerald with a deep, rich color and no flaws can cost tens of thousands of dollars per carat because of its rarity. Unlike diamonds that gain value in novel colors, emeralds of another color are no longer emeralds; they're merely semi-precious beryl gems.
Ruby
Rubies share a chemical makeup almost identical to their fellow precious gems, sapphires; both are corundum, a crystalline form of aluminum oxide. These luminous red gems reach the peak of their value when they're closest in hue to the true red that jewelers prize. Burma, now called Myanmar, created the colorful term "pigeon blood" to describe the most valuable hue, a vivid dark red. Pigeon blood rubies are valuable, but star rubies exceed their price due to their rarity. Star rubies get their name from the six-rayed star visible in the heart of a cloudy ruby when the light strikes the stone directly.
Sapphire
Sapphire.
Aeya/iStock/Getty Images
Like its ruddy twin, ruby, sapphire is one of the world's hardest gemstones at 9.0 on the Mohs hardness scale. This durable gem is only a precious stone when its color is some shade of blue; pink, yellow, green and white sapphires are semi-precious stones. Precious sapphire varies from pale icy blue to deep navy in color, but the costliest sapphires fall in the middle of the range. Clear blue sapphires fetch a higher price than sapphires with too much "silk," the fibrous inclusions that sometimes appear in corundum gems. Sapphires completely filled with silk, though, might be star sapphires when polished. As with star rubies, star sapphires are the most valuable variety.
Alexandrite
Alexandrite's high price comes both from its rarity and its highly unusual color. The stone looks blue or blue-green in daylight, but appears pink to purple in candlelight or incandescent light. Natural alexandrite first appeared in Russia where it took its name from Tsar Alexander II in the early 1800s. Since then, Tanzanian and Brazilian alexandrites have taken over the market after extensive mining exhausted Russian sources. Natural alexandrite rarely goes for less than $10,000 per carat. If a stone costs significantly less, it's probably synthetic.
Black Opal
While opal is a fairly common silicate rock, the flashes of spectral fire that the finest opals display is rare. The "black" in black opal refers to the background color; genuine black opal showcases its play of spectral color against a velvety black background that makes the colors appear even more vivid. Because the finest natural black opal sells for thousands of dollars per carat, unscrupulous opal dealers once tried to layer less expensive translucent opal atop a black backing to mimic black opal's fire. Dealers still sell opal doublets and triplets -- composites of less expensive opals layered to look like costly black opal -- but most now market these layered gems as an affordable alternative to black opal, not as a substitute for it.
Gemological Rarities
Rare gems transcend the concept of precious and semi-precious stones. Collectors will pay tens of thousands of dollars per carat for a gem so rare that every known sample of it wouldn't fill a thimble. Painite, a merlot-colored gem from Myanmar, is so rare that gemologists numbered the first 50 specimens so they could track them. Unusually large gems also fetch a higher price; a 5-carat pink diamond is considerably rarer than a half-carat one and therefore costs more per carat.
Diamond
A flawless white diamond of good clarity is worth thousands of dollars per carat. Despite their high price, though, diamonds are far from rare. What drives their price up is the balance of supply and demand; buyers prize these beautiful gems so much for engagement, wedding and anniversary jewelry that diamonds always have value. Some diamonds are rarer than others. Colorful "fancy" diamonds naturally have a noticeable hue. Yellow canary diamonds are the most common color other than white, but diamonds also come in pink, green, brown, blue and exceedingly rare red.
Emerald
The most valuable member of the extensive beryl family of gems, emerald can bring a higher price than a diamond of equivalent quality. Emeralds get their name from an ancient Greek word for their vivid green hue. These gems are more fragile than their hardness of 7.5 to 8 on the Mohs hardness scale would suggest; natural emerald typically has inclusions and fractures that weaken the stone. A clear emerald with a deep, rich color and no flaws can cost tens of thousands of dollars per carat because of its rarity. Unlike diamonds that gain value in novel colors, emeralds of another color are no longer emeralds; they're merely semi-precious beryl gems.
Ruby
Rubies share a chemical makeup almost identical to their fellow precious gems, sapphires; both are corundum, a crystalline form of aluminum oxide. These luminous red gems reach the peak of their value when they're closest in hue to the true red that jewelers prize. Burma, now called Myanmar, created the colorful term "pigeon blood" to describe the most valuable hue, a vivid dark red. Pigeon blood rubies are valuable, but star rubies exceed their price due to their rarity. Star rubies get their name from the six-rayed star visible in the heart of a cloudy ruby when the light strikes the stone directly.
Sapphire
Sapphire.
Aeya/iStock/Getty Images
Like its ruddy twin, ruby, sapphire is one of the world's hardest gemstones at 9.0 on the Mohs hardness scale. This durable gem is only a precious stone when its color is some shade of blue; pink, yellow, green and white sapphires are semi-precious stones. Precious sapphire varies from pale icy blue to deep navy in color, but the costliest sapphires fall in the middle of the range. Clear blue sapphires fetch a higher price than sapphires with too much "silk," the fibrous inclusions that sometimes appear in corundum gems. Sapphires completely filled with silk, though, might be star sapphires when polished. As with star rubies, star sapphires are the most valuable variety.
Alexandrite
Alexandrite's high price comes both from its rarity and its highly unusual color. The stone looks blue or blue-green in daylight, but appears pink to purple in candlelight or incandescent light. Natural alexandrite first appeared in Russia where it took its name from Tsar Alexander II in the early 1800s. Since then, Tanzanian and Brazilian alexandrites have taken over the market after extensive mining exhausted Russian sources. Natural alexandrite rarely goes for less than $10,000 per carat. If a stone costs significantly less, it's probably synthetic.
Black Opal
While opal is a fairly common silicate rock, the flashes of spectral fire that the finest opals display is rare. The "black" in black opal refers to the background color; genuine black opal showcases its play of spectral color against a velvety black background that makes the colors appear even more vivid. Because the finest natural black opal sells for thousands of dollars per carat, unscrupulous opal dealers once tried to layer less expensive translucent opal atop a black backing to mimic black opal's fire. Dealers still sell opal doublets and triplets -- composites of less expensive opals layered to look like costly black opal -- but most now market these layered gems as an affordable alternative to black opal, not as a substitute for it.
Gemological Rarities
Rare gems transcend the concept of precious and semi-precious stones. Collectors will pay tens of thousands of dollars per carat for a gem so rare that every known sample of it wouldn't fill a thimble. Painite, a merlot-colored gem from Myanmar, is so rare that gemologists numbered the first 50 specimens so they could track them. Unusually large gems also fetch a higher price; a 5-carat pink diamond is considerably rarer than a half-carat one and therefore costs more per carat.
Posted in: antiques
