Ammolite. In 1981, the World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO) declared ammolite a new organic gem. Occurring in limited deposits in the Rocky Mountains, this gem material is much rarer than diamond.
Blue Diamond – $3.93 million per carat
The most expensive and rarest gemstone in the world is a natural blue diamond. That explains the price of $3.93 million per carat. Blue diamonds were discovered in India and later displayed in a London collection in 1839. Traces of boron give blue diamonds their distinctive hue.
The rarest gemstone color is red. These include red diamonds, red emeralds and the coveted Burmese ruby. Gemstones of a rich crimson color are incredibly difficult to discover in nature, and rank among the rarest gemstones in the world.
Diamonds, emeralds, rubies, and sapphires are known as the "Big Four" gemstones. These are the most valuable kind of precious stones.
diamond, a mineral composed of pure carbon. It is the hardest naturally occurring substance known; it is also the most popular gemstone. Because of their extreme hardness, diamonds have a number of important industrial applications.
Painite : Not just the rarest gemstone, but also the rarest mineral on earth, Painite holds the Guinness World Record for it. After its discovery in the year 1951, there existed only 2 specimens of Painite for the next many decades.
The rarest birthstone is a red diamond. The most renowned red diamond is the 5.1-carat Moussaieff Red. If this birthstone were auctioned, it would smash the existing record of $71 million for a diamond. Diamond has many intriguing tales and qualities.
Gem-quality rubies are significantly rarer than diamonds, though there are certain types of diamonds that are very rare too. If we weigh the most spectacular examples of rubies and diamonds against one another, diamonds that show color are even rarer.
Diamond – The Forever Gem
Diamonds symbolize forever love, which is why they're most commonly given as engagement and wedding rings. Diamonds that surpass the 'z-light yellow' rating on the diamond color scale are considered fancy yellow diamonds.
Painite. The most valuable gem that is not a diamond is one that many have never heard of. Painite is an interesting brick-coloured gemstone. It is the most valuable non-diamond gem priced at £41,000-£49,000 ($50,000-$60,000 US) per carat.
Tanzanite is a shocking 1000 times more rare than a diamond. Discovered for the first time in 1967 and only found in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro, these gemstones go for about $1,500 per carat. Tanzanite has the ability to change color depending on the angle of light it is in.
The traditional setting and arrangement of these nine gems is shown in the illustration. A ruby (representing the Sun) is always in the center, surrounded (clockwise from the top) by a diamond, a natural pearl, red coral, hessonite, a blue sapphire, cat's eye, a yellow sapphire, and an emerald.
How Rare is Amethyst? Not very rare, it is plentiful, but with all gemstones, the better the color the more rare it is.
1. Emerald (May) The lush abundance of spring is mirrored in May's birthstone, the emerald, with its deep green hue, making it the best birthstone of them all. According to legend, emeralds are also a source of great luck and offer protection against evil to those who wear them.
Alexandrite is a color-changing gemstone. An old saying says it's like an "emerald by day and like a ruby by night". Discovered in 1830 in Russia, the gem was named after Emperor Alexander III, the Czar of Russia in 1839.
Zircon is the oldest mineral on Earth, dating back more than 4.4 billion years. Found in the Earth's crust, it's common in most sand and sedimentary deposits, as well as metamorphic rocks and crystallized magma.
The oldest gemstone formed on Earth is zircon. In 2001, researchers found a piece of natural zircon in Jack Hills, Western Australia and dated it back to around 4.4 billion years. (Zircon is a natural gemstone and should not be confused with cubic zirconia which is a synthetic imitation.)
3. Emeralds are rarer and often more expensive than diamonds. When it comes to rare and expensive gemstones, most of us immediately think of diamonds, but, in fact, emeralds are more than 20 times rarer than diamonds and, therefore, often command a higher price.