5 Gemstones More Expensive Than Diamonds!

surely Baz he said diamonds are forever Marilyn Monroe told us they're a girl's best friend but our diamonds really all they're cracked up to be sure there's stunningly beautiful but are we right to consider them an indicator of wealth and status with this video might surprise you from a world-famous jewel of the Australian outback to an unmistakable icon of Chinese culture here are five gemstones more expensive than diamonds before we begin make sure to hit the like button subscribe to our Channel and click the notification bill for more amazing videos every day with that being said let's begin number 5 black opal what's in a name after all first impressions can be deceiving case in point the black opal the rarest gem stone the opal family it's one of the most expensive jewels in the world - with top quality stones currently priced at around $10,000 per carat black opal originates from a small town called lightning Ridge in New South Wales Australia also known as the black opal capital of the world the mineral it's comprised of include carbon and iron oxide given the stone a much darker shade than the white opal and the rest of its paler siblings we know what you're thinking a black gemstone ours they're even worth a dime well here's the thing opals are best known for the dazzling display of rainbow colors they emit as they refract the light and the black opal is no exception however it's beauty comes from how vividly these colors show up against its dark body compared to lighter variants both the brightness and pattern of a black opals coloring can greatly affect its value with an abundance of reds tending to fetch the biggest price the Aurora Australis named after the natural phenomenon better known as the Southern Lights was long considered the most valuable black opal in the world mined from deep within the lightning ridge seabed in 1938 it has a blue coloring with flecks of green and red and it said to feature a beautiful imprint of a starfish on the back weighing in at 180 carats you Australis was already worth over six hundred and eighty thousand dollars when it was last valued back in 2005 but it can't hold a candle to the Royal one a rare black opal first discovered in the Australian outback by a miner called bobby who whisked it away and kept his incredible find a secret for 14 years he spent this time polishing the gym with a dental drill if you could believe that before passing it on to Australian jewelry designer Katherine Jetta exactly how much Jetta pony up to take the Royal one of Bobby's hands remains a mystery but thanks to its mesmerizing ly vivid mix of blues and greens this 306 carat beast was most recently valued as a staggering three million dollars so it'll come as no surprise that tens of thousands of people flocked to Lightning Ridge every year digging for their fortune number four jadeite if the thought of a gem selling for three million dollars just blew your mind what about one that goes for up to three million dollars per carat that honor goes to jadeite the rarest stone in the jave family jadeite is found all over the world in places like Russia Guatemala Canada and New Zealand but the best source is believed to be a deposit in Mayan mark Burma jadeite is so expensive only the richest people in the world will ever be able to afford it while it may not be the sparkliest of jewels it has a sophisticated understated beauty to it jadeite is available in several different colors including red yellow orange and purple although much like the rest of the Jade family it is most often found in green despite green being the most common color however the most valuable jadeite is an incredible shade of green known as Imperial Jade in fact at one stage or the Imperial Jade found anywhere in the world had to be shipped directly to the royal court of China we're sure you'll agree it doesn't get much more prestigious than that the record for the most expensive jadeite jewelry ever sold is currently held by a Cartier necklace containing 27 stun translucent green jadeite beads topped off with a clasp of rubies and diamonds set in platinum an 18 karat yellow gold it was previously owned by American heiress Barbara Hutton who passed away in the late 70s in 2014 eight buyers went to battle in the auction house to secure the necklace for themselves after a fierce 20 minute bidding walk it sold for a world record break in 27 point four million dollars over double its original estimate the irony when the hammer finally came down Cartier had the winning bid the manufacturer who made the necklace in the first place it also broke a second world record for the most expensive Cartier jewel ever sold but does it really count if you buy it yourself the jury's still out on that one number three alexandrite one of the rarest jewels in the world alexandrite is derived from the mineral price of Beryl and best known for its ability to change color in different types of light first found in Russia's Ural Mountains back in 1830 alexandrite was named after prince alexander ii whose birthday it just so happened to be on the day the stones were discovered in the natural light the gems shone a beautiful green color but later that evening by the light of the fire they began to glow and deep red coincidentally green and red were the signature colors of old Imperial Russia's military forces so the country's people began to consider alexandrite a good omen and it became massively popular among Russian aristocrat by the turn of the 20th century all the Alexandria deposits in Russia had been depleted and mineral experts believed there were no more to be found thankfully since then even larger supplies have been uncovered in parts of Africa Asia and South America albeit not as bright or colorful as the original Russian stones Alexandra's value is primarily dictated by its color-changing ability as well as its clarity and size individual halls of this exceedingly rare gemstone tend to be very small even now that explains its eye watering value at upwards of 12,000 dollars per carat most miners would consider themselves incredibly lucky to find one over five carats although chunks of alexandrite weighing up to 60 carats have been discovered as a deposit in Ceylon Sri Lanka fun fact alexandrite was one of the favorite gemstones of world famous mineralogist and Tiffany and Co buyer George Koons it was because of Koons and his appreciation of these chameleons like jewels that Tiffany had something of a monopoly on them for many years nowadays there's a huge demand for synthetic alexandrite first created by scientists back in the 60s like other gemstones grown in laboratories synthesized alexandrite possesses all the same properties but at a much lower price that said in terms of lab created gems alexandrite still ranks as one of the most expensive on the market there are also a few less expensive copycats like corundum as well as many other Chrysler Beryl stones with similar color change in properties they say nobody likes a fake but hey if it means saving tens of thousands of dollars 'we can probably let it go number two red barrel you may not have heard of the extremely rare red bell or even the far more common green barrel but then again green bell isn't actually known as green barrel at all so that isn't going to help you much in fact green barrel goes by another name emerald so the real surprises there are essentially red emeralds out there who knew however there's a very good reason behind one of gemology x' best kept secrets the first red barrel was mined in Job County Utah way back in the early nineteen hundred's unfortunately it was found to be incredibly tricky to fasten with only 10% of mind-read barrel actually been suitable for turning into gemstones furthermore the grand total of zero additional gem quality deposits have been unearthed since making this one of the rarest jewels in the world and subsequently while that our most expensive and up to $10,000 per carat poorer quality supplies have been found in New Mexico so it's anyone's guess what kind of discoveries will crop up in the future sometimes refer to as scarlet emerald or big spike after Maynard Bixby the miner who discovered it a lot of red barrel features purple and pink accents earning it yet another nickname brass barrel in fact there's a lot of confusion around red barrel with the Federal Trade Commission even clamping down on the use of the term red emerald like alexandrite gem-quality red barrel is found in extremely small amounts with most sizing up at under one centimeter in length and up to a quarter of a carat in weight to put things in perspective the largest known red barrel in the world is only eight carats thankfully its striking color goes a long way to make up for its diminutive stature much like other particularly rare gemstones align the far less expensive synthetic red barrel was launched at a Russian laboratory module our production is said to have ceased a few years ago still if you manage to track it down you could bag yourself one of the most beautiful gemstones in the world at a bargain price and only the most eagle-eyed gemologist will be able to tell the difference number one toffee ight tough what now indeed you could be forgive me but never having heard of toffee ight it's just that rare the majority of toffee ight has a pale mauve coloring although blue green purple red and clear varieties have also been discovered toffee ight is a relatively new find by gemstone standards sharing a lot in common with another young upstart of the mineralogy world muscovite there are two other very good reasons why it's flown under the radar since its discovery top-drawer a toffee ight sells for an earth-shattering quarter of a million dollars per carat but unfortunately it also suffers from a very unfortunate case of mistaken identity a very first stone was discovered by austrian gemologist richard tough in Dublin Ireland in 1945 although nobody understood what an incredible find it was at the time the problem is toffee act bears a striking similarity to Spinal so what's the problem well Spinal generally only fetches up to $500 per carat a measly naught point two percent of the value of toffee height it was only when tough noticed the 1.4 carat stone refracting to separate rays of light as opposed to spinals one that he began to uncover the true value of his treasure however it wouldn't be confirmed until 1951 when the gems underwent proper analysis at a gemology lab even today toffee eye continues to be routinely mistaken final primary factor behind toffee is market value is just how few have been discovered around the world from its original unearthing in 1945 it would be another 50 years before anyone else managed to track down a single one and that's all they found one a few more have since been mined in Sri Lanka China Tanzania and Burma although many of the stones found there were of much lower quality several mining companies in Madagascar are currently on the hunt at a Fiat so it remains to be seen whether it will ever fully emerge into its own double refracted spotlight so your diamonds looking as though they've lost a little of their luster now you've laid eyes on these incredible wonders of the world are you already on route to Tiffany to check out this stunning line of alexandrite jewelry also check out other cool stuff showing up on screen now see you next time

Channel: The Finest

Views: 2,635,602

Rating: 4.8539839 out of 5

Keywords: Gemstones, Gems, Expensive, Diamond, Jewelry, Rarest, Diamonds, Top Rarest Gemstones, Gemstone, Most Valuable Gemstones, Most Expensive, Rare, Crystals, Most Expensive Gemstones, Valuable, Expensive Gemstones, Most Expensive Diamond, Most Expensive Diamonds, Largest Gemstones, Gem, Rare Gemstones, Stones, Rarest Gemstones, Largest Diamonds, Biggest Emerald, Stone, Mining, Rare Diamonds, Most Expensive Minerals, Most Expensive Stone, Largest Gems, Jewels, Jewellery, Rare Gems, New, Viral

Id: 0dnAKveXeew

Length: 12min 2sec (722 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 01 2019