There are currently about 200 types of precious stones (diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, etc.). In addition, there are also semi-precious stones. Some of them are so rare that they exceed expensive precious gems in price. We suggest you have a look at such treasures.

Tanzanite

This is a kind of the zoisite mineral, aluminum silicate, and calcium. Tanzanite was found in 1966 on the Merelani Plateau, near Kilimanjaro. The stone became famous thanks to the American Tiffany jewelry company, which offered to name it in honor of Tanzania. The north of the country is the world's only deposit of such stones.

Black opal

Noble opals of black color are considered to be one of the most beautiful stones. Jewelleries made of it have their own original and refined design. The most famous one is the black opal called "Burning of Troy", presented to Josephine Napoleon. The gem has bright red shades of color. It was located in Vienna at the Museum of Art History, and then disappeared without a trace.

Larimar

This is a semi-precious white-blue mineral, one of the varieties of pectolite. The color of these stones varies from light-blue to greenish-white and dark-blue. Larimar was found in 1974 in the Dominican Republic, at the foot of the Bahoruko mountain. It can be found only here and in the area of Fitta in Italy. Earrings, bracelets, rings, and others are made from the silver-mounted larimar stones.

Paraiba Tourmaline

This gem is a bright phenomenon in the world jewelery market. It was discovered in the late 1980s in the State of Paraíba (Brazil). From the very beginning, the stone has been met with extraordinary interest of the public, which remains to this day. Many connoisseurs of the paraiba tourmaline consider it to be the most beautiful on the planet. Paraiba tourmalines have different shades: from soft turquoise to intense green. Because of that, they are confused with sapphires and emeralds.

Grandidierite

This stone with a hardly pronounceable name is considered to be one of the rarest in the world. It was found on the island of Madagascar in 1902. The Madagascar mineral received the name in honor of naturalist A. Grandidier, who spent many years studing the island. The stone can be semitransparent and nontransparent, with a blue or green tint of differnet color intensity.

Benitoite

This is a rare mineral, discovered in 1906 in the district of San Benito in the State of California (USA). Large forms of benitoite are very rare (most often, the size does not exceed two carats, the largest one is 15.5 carats). American museums preserve benitoites with a mass of 6.53 and 7.83 carats.

Painite

The mineral gained the name after its discoverer, the mineralogist Arthur C.D. Pain. The researcher found the stone in Burma (currently Myanmar) in 1956. Painite as the world's rarest stone got listed in the Guinness World Records in 2005. In 2006, another deposit of painite was discovered in the north of Myanmar. However, the stones form the new deposit were inferior to the previous samples in quality.

Red beryl

The gem was discovered in the State of Utah (Thomas Mountain) in the early twentieth century. It was described by the mineralogist M. Bixby, having included it in the register of the State's stones. Later, the stone was called bixbite in honor of the researcher. There is only one deposit of the red beryl jewelry in the world, so bixbit is considered to be the national stone of the United States. The largest stone of red beryl has a mass of 10 carats. Jewelry from it is very rare and expensive.