From time immemorial, gemstones have captured the imagination of human beings. Their beauty, rarity, and metaphorical value have accorded them precious status since the earliest times. However, when it comes to all those gemstones, only a few command attention not just due to their beauty but due to an outrageously high price tag. Such stones, capable of fetching millions at auction, are treasures that tantalize collectors and gem enthusiasts alike.
Let’s take you through this most comprehensive guide to discover the world’s most expensive gemstones, unveiling factors that drive their value and stories of how they were discovered.
1. What Determines the Value of a Gemstone?
2. The World’s Most Expensive Gemstones
3. Conclusion
What Determines the Value of a Gemstone?
Before presenting the list of the most costly gemstones in the world, it is necessary to understand factors determining the value of precious stones. Several crucial factors make the gemstone expensive:
Rarity of the Gemstone
The less frequent a gem is found, the rarer it is; there are only a few places on earth where specific gems are produced while others are produced in very small quantities. This factor alone greatly contributes to making a gem so expensive, especially with the fact that they are no longer being mined so much that they become rarer.
Quality and the 4Cs (Cut, Color, Clarity, Carat)
The 4Cs-cut, colour, clarity, and carat weight are the universal measures taken to evaluate the quality of the gemstone.
Cut
Cut refers to how well a gemstone has been cut and faceted. A good cut of a stone enhances the brilliance of the gem and its overall look while a bad cut of a gem reduces its beauty and worth
Colour
The depth of color is often the means by which gemstones are graded. Deep blue sapphires are far more valuable than pale, as is the case for richly colored rubies compared to their lighter cousins. Some stones possess an optical phenomenon known as color-change, in which their color appears to change with varying lighting, thereby making the stone more valuable .
Clarity
Clarity is the measure of interior and exterior flaws such as inclusions and blemishes. The more inclusions and blemishes a gemstone possesses, the less valuable the gemstone.
Carat Weight
The measurement of size and mass is given by a gemstone as its carat weight. Larger gems are scarce and therefore expensive, but carat weight itself determines nothing; the value depends upon the total of all the other factors.
Historical Significance and Provenance
Some stones have enormous historical importance, either due to the myths associated with them or because they are affiliated with royalties and other distinguished personalities. Stones with a history fetch a premium price for them at auctions as collectors can pay that extra buck for an extension in history.
Most Expensive Gemstones in the World
With the above determinants of the value of gemstones, we now look at the most expensive top-most gemstones in the world. As stated, it has already set records broken and continues to be valued for their scarcity, beauty, and unmatched prices.
1. Pink Star Diamond – $71.2 Million
The Pink Star Diamond is a wonder of nature
This is the Pink Star Diamond weighing 59.60 carats. It is the most expensive gem sold so far at an auction. The glamorous pink diamond was mined by De Beers in Africa in 1999. Sotheby’s auction for a record $71.2 million sold it in 2017. Its vibrant hue of pink, flawless clarity, and size made it one of the most prized gems in this world.
H3: Why It’s So Expensive
- Rarity: These are the rarest compared to all the other diamond varieties. The color of this Pink Star is considered to be highly prized for the highly sought “Fancy Vivid Pink.”
- Size: This one weighs close to 60 carats, and it ranks among the largest pink diamonds in existence.
- Flawless Cut: The brilliant cut of the Pink Star where the intense pink color shines with much brilliance only makes it irresistibly appealing to most collectors.
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The Blue Diamond – $57.5 Million
The legacy of the Oppenheimer Blue Diamond
The Oppenheimer Blue Diamond is, after all, the second most expensive gem ever sold. This 14.62-carat Fancy Vivid Blue diamond was sold at an auction in Christie’s for $57.5 million in 2016. It is named after its previous owner, Sir Philip Oppenheimer. The blue colour of this diamond and its perfect cut are also the reasons it is so precious.
Why So Expensive?
- Color: Blue diamonds are extremely rare, and the Oppenheimer’s blue color is one of the most vibrant ever seen.
- Provenance: Intrinsic to its value is the fact that the diamond belongs to the Oppenheimer family, which historically dominated De Beers.
- Size and Clarity: Over 14 carats in flawless clarity, the Oppenheimer Blue is an incredibly rare diamond.
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The Moussaieff Red Diamond – $20 Million
The Rarest of Them All
The rarest color of all diamonds is red diamonds, and the Moussaieff Red is the most famous among them. It is also the largest red diamond in the world at 5.11 carats. The Moussaieff Red diamond was discovered in the 1990s by a Brazilian farmer, who later sold it to the Moussaieff Jewellers.
Why It’s So Expensive
- Rarities: Red diamonds are rare, and pure red diamonds do not exist. The intensity of its color alone makes the Moussaieff Red even more precious.
- Size: It may be smaller compared to the others, but its rarity and colour make up for its size
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The Jadeite Necklace – $27.44 Million
The Legendary Hutton-Mdivani Necklace
Jadeite is the most expensive and rarest form of jade. Such a record was broken by the necklace when it was sold for $27.44 million in 2014. This sale occurred at a Sotheby’s auction. The necklace originally belonged to Barbara Hutton, heiress to the Woolworth fortune.
Why It’s So Expensive
- The jadeite is not very common and only found in Myanmar or similar places like the regular jade.
- Historical Importance: Being related to Hutton family, the neckpiece is beyond money value
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The Hope Diamond – Priceless
A Gem With a Dark Past
The Hope Diamond is a gem and considered one of the greatest in the world. It is equally famous for its bright blue color as for the curse reported to trouble its owners. The diamond weighs 45.52 carats; it is deep blue and kept in the Smithsonian Museum so cannot be priced.
Why It’s So Pricey
- Unique Color: The Hope Diamond’s color is unique. It is rare in diamonds to be as deep blue as it is.
- Historical Significance: The storied 300-year history and the curse attached to this diamond enhance the mystique and value.
- Provenance: Hope Diamond has been owned by kings, queens, and noble collectors from time to time.
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The Pink Legacy Diamond – $50 Million
A record-breaking Sale
The Pink Legacy Diamond is an impressive showstopper at 18.96 carats of pink diamonds. This rock sold for $50 million at Christie’s auction in 2018, having more records set as it set the price per carat at the price at which pink diamonds were achieved: $2.6 million per carat.
Why So Pricey
- Rare Color: As with the Pink Star, the Pink Legacy is a Fancy Vivid Pink diamond-one of the most coveted hues in all of gemstones.
- Thickness and Brightness: Its thinness and brightness are extremely rare for pink diamonds.
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The Mystery Black Diamond – $4 Million
The Mystery of the Black Diamond
The Enigma Black Diamond is the biggest cut diamond in the world weighing about 555.55 carats. It was sold for a staggering $4 million in the year 2022. The uniqueness of this gemstone lies in the fact that scientists have proven that black diamonds are actually meteoric impacts.
Why So Costly
- Size: Above 555 carats and this is only one of the biggest diamonds in existence.
- Mystical Origins: The extraterrestrial origins possible for a gem give it a one-of-a-kind piece worth the price tag.
Conclusion
The world’s most expensive gemstones are not only beautiful treasure but carry history, cultural relevance, and mystery along with them. Be it about the visible Pink Star Diamond or the mystical Hope Diamond, all the gems surpass the human imagination in terms of natural beauty and that of human craftsmanship. For a collector and gem enthusiast, having one of them is rather like possessing a part of history. As mining becomes more challenging and these gems rarer than ever, the value of these incredible stones will just continue to appreciate only with time.
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