World’s Least Heard Gemstones that Still Cost a Million

Wouldn’t you love to own something that can never be replicated or flaunted by anyone other? Here is your chance to actually own something that is not only rare but also rated among the least known gemstones in the world.

Grandidierite

Discovered in 1902, this gemstone is named after French naturalist and explorer, Alfred Grandidier. After 114 years of oblivion, grandidierite was first brought to limelight in 2015! Best quality gemstones are mined from Madagascar and Sri Lanka. A neo-silicate, it is relatively hard ranking 7.5 on Mohs scale. It has a typical bluish green colour with translucent appearance and fine rutile network. 

Jeremejevite

First discovered atop Mount Soktui in Siberia and Lake Baikal, Jeremejevite is found in small traces along with albite, tourmaline, and quartz. Other than Siberia, gem collectors have excavated the rare crystals in Namibia and Germany. It is a colourless gemstone with faint yellow and blue colour. Worth at $18000 per carat, Jeremejevite is linked to other rare mineral gemstones like Hulsite, Fluoborite and Sakhaite. 

Taaffeite

Named after Richard Taaffe, Taaffeite is an oxide mineral bearing greyish blue and red greenish shades. A very hard gemstone ranking 8.5 on Mohs scale, this gemstone is mined from the renowned mines of Ratnapura in Sri Lanka. Price tags hover around $5000 per carat, finding a Taaffeite is very rare. Spinel varieties are falsely sold off as this rare gemstone.

Musgravite

Musgravite exhibits red, mauve, blue, violet and grey colours.Rich in magnesium impurities crystallised within beryllium oxide in a trigonal system, it is closely linked to Taaffeite but was discovered at least four decades later in the mines located in Musgrave Range in South Australia. 1-carat Musgravite can fetch a price of $35,000 and more. In 2015, only eight recognised varieties of the gemstones were reported to have been extracted for commercial purpose.

Red Diamonds

Now we finally have a gemstone that everybody would love to adorn. But the price tag keeps it safe from the crowd! At $8.2 million per carat, red diamonds are not just the costliest gemstones but also the most alluring ones to feature in the list. Unlike other diamond varieties that have boron and nitrogen impurities, the red diamonds are pure in their composition. They are formed out of plastic deformation, which itself is a very rare phenomenon on Earth. 

Famous red diamonds to be ever cut by mankind is the 5.11 carat Moussaieff Red, which was earlier called the Red Shield Diamond.  Another celebrity name in the list of red diamonds is the 0.95 carat brilliant cut, round Brazilian Hancock Red which was sold off for a mammoth $880,000 ($926,000 per carat)!

Scapolite

It is definitely the one that only a handful of gem collectors actually know, and have seen in reality. Scapolite gemstone displays a fascinating play of colour along with fluorescence and Cat’s Eye effect. It is cut in cabochon to create exceptionally brilliant stone for jewellery. Popular varieties are Lavendar’s Cat eye and purple Tanzanian scapolite with per carat price of over $3000.