Scientists cannot determine the exact period when people began to use precious stones. But it is known for certain that the first mentions of jewelry are found in the Bible. In ancient times, jewelry indicated belonging to a certain class of society. Many believed that stones could protect against evil spirits, troubles and diseases. Ancient Egyptians back in the 4th century. BC. they knew how to process minerals and decorated them with amulets, hats, and even made patterns on the walls. Later, humanity learned to categorize stones according to their value depending on several factors: color, brightness, rarity, and most importantly, hardness. Let's figure out how the value of stones is estimated in modern times and get acquainted with their 20 best representatives.
The magic of gems
Diamonds are stones with amazing magic; they can conquer a person instantly. Since ancient times, amulets have been decorated with jewelry, which were considered to protect a person from everything bad. Some believed that with the help of stones one could find out the future. Later, when the composition of the gems was studied, it turned out that they were very durable. It is this property that is very valuable in them. People who had the most expensive diamonds were delighted with them.
Uncut expensive diamonds
Gems simply “burn” in the sun. The price of the stone depends on the processing and color. Their shape is most often round; colorless ones are rare. Its transparency only increases the price. However, colored stones are more expensive than white ones. They can have the following shades:
- pink;
- green;
- yellow;
- red;
- blue;
- black;
- orange;
Precious orange diamonds
- brown;
- purple.
Description and properties of the stone
The sizes of red diamonds are small, up to 0.5 carats. It is mined mainly at the Argyll spring, located in Australia. Representatives weighing more than 0.1 carats can be found at auction sales. The price of the gem is quite high. The most expensive gemstone in the world has only carbon in its chemical composition. It is a crystal lattice in the form of a face-centered cube with atoms at the vertices.
There are 4 more atoms inside. In the thickness of the earth they all become very hot and subject to pressure. Thus, a compacted “packing” of atoms in a covalent bond is formed, which helps characterize the stone as very durable.
The most expensive diamonds in the world
This list will contain the most expensive diamonds in the world.
Koh-I-Noor - price unknown
Koh-I-Noor - price unknown
The actual value of this diamond is unknown. Koh-I-Noor can be translated from Persian as “mountain of light”. It is now in the crown of Queen Elizabeth II of Britain. The history of this stone dates back to the 1300s and is still being followed today.
Cullinan, Star of Africa - $2 billion
Cullinan - $2 billion
This diamond is made from the largest diamond ever found. The weight of this diamond was 3106.75 carats. It was discovered in South Africa in the Premier Mine. The Cullinan weighs 530.2 carats.
This diamond is kept in the Tower of London. The scepter belonging to King Edward VII of England is decorated with it. The price of the “Star of Africa” is $2 billion or 130.4 billion rubles.
Hope Diamond – $250 million
Hope Diamond - $250 million
This diamond is one of the most famous in the whole world. It weighs 45.52 carats. There is a legend that it was cursed and that it brings misfortune to its owner.
It is now on display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. Its price is $250 million or 16.3 billion rubles.
Centenary Diamond – $100 million
Centenary Diamond - $100 million
This expensive diamond was discovered in 1988. It got its name on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the De Beers company, which was engaged in diamond mining. Its weight is 273.85 carats. It has 247 edges. Its cost is $100 million or 6.5 billion rubles.
Pink Star - $71.2 million
Pink Star
The pink gemstone weighs 59.60 carats. Even in the photo, the pink stone looks very beautiful and attractive. The diamond from which Pink Star was made was discovered in 1999. This was the same company that found the Hundred Year Diamond. The price of the stone is $71.2 million or 4.6 billion rubles.
Winston Blue - $23.8 million
Blue Winston - $23.8 million
This diamond weighs 101.73 carats. The corresponding diamond was discovered in Botswana and weighed 236 carats. Winston Blue was bought by the jewelry company. The price of this jewelry is $23.8 million or 1.5 billion rubles.
Wittelsbach - $23.4 million
Wittelsbach - $23.4 million
It dates back to the 17th century. Then it belonged to the King of Spain, Philip IV of Habsburg. The Wittelsbach family acquired it only in 1722.
The diamond, which weighs 31.06 carats, is classified as the best quality diamond. It was lost during the First World War. In 2008, the stone ended up in the hands of Laurence Graff, a jeweler from Great Britain. In 2011, the stone was purchased by the Emir of Qatar. Its cost was estimated at $23.4 million, or 1.5 billion rubles.
Perfect Pink - $23.2 million
Perfect Pink - $23.2 million
The weight of this diamond is 14.23 carats. The stone was sold at auction to Hong Kong for $23.2 million, or 1.5 billion rubles. Perfect Pink became the most expensive diamond sold in Asia.
Heart of Eternity - $16 million
Heart of Eternity - $16 million
This blue diamond weighs 27.64 carats. It was discovered in the famous South African Premier Mine in 2000. Its current owner is Said Qadri. The price of the stone is $16 million or 1 billion. rubles
Meaning and education
The diamond itself is quite hard. Thanks to this property, it got its name. Translated from Arabic “al-mas”, which means “the hardest”. Even in ancient times, an uncut stone was considered an exquisite decoration and had currency value.
An example of an uncut diamond
One of the reliable stories of the formation of diamonds is considered to be of magmatic origin. Carbon atoms form at great depths like diamonds and are carried to the surface by magma.
There is also a meteorite version of the formation of gems. The raw crystals themselves are unsightly in appearance. They look like matte and rough grains up to 5 mm in size.
When mining you can find:
- isolated crystals;
- fused small crystals;
Appearance of a diamond in nature
- several hundred cobbled-together units.
Pink Graff
- Location : UK
- Price : $45 million
Graff, namely Laurence Graff, is the richest living art buyer. He is the owner of his own diamond mine and many other things. He is in 36th place in terms of wealth in his entire country and is reputed to be quite eccentric. His purchase of a flawless 24.78-carat pink diamond is also quite eccentric, because he paid an amount that exceeds the price he paid for the best works of Warhol.
Places of formation of precious gems
Diamonds are mined on all continents, but their deposits are not equal everywhere. They are located in areas where rock layers lie horizontally and are divided into types:
- primary, formed on magma;
- secondary, formed by placers, resulting from the destruction of deposits.
About 85% of diamonds are mined from deposits similar to a cone-shaped pipe called kimberlite or lamproite.
Stone processing
As already mentioned, the initial appearance of the diamond is quite unsightly. A “play of light” can only be achieved after significant processing, i.e. cutting. During this process, what happens:
- elimination of cracks, chips and other defects;
- ordering the arrangement of edges;
- the effect of a mirror surface of the edges is achieved.
Process of processing precious stones
Grinding occurs using a cast iron disc containing diamond powder.
It is noteworthy that the faces are arranged in such a way that the crystal reflects light, but does not absorb it. Multi-colored rays are refracted and the stone shines in different colors. Cutting work can take a long time, up to several months or even years. The craftsmen come out with semi-precious stones that are half or even a third lighter in weight - diamonds, but their cost increases several times.
Famous precious diamonds
Millennium Sapphire
- Location : Madagascar
- Price : $180 million
In general, sapphires are incredibly valuable and beautiful stones, but when they are also the size of a football, then one can only admire them. It weighs 61,500 carats and its treatment is unique. It contains 134 personalities, famous geniuses living in different eras. It was only put on public display twice. Who knows, maybe there will be someone who can buy it for such incredible money - and then a wider audience will be able to enjoy it.
Cut shapes
The cut of diamonds characterizes their appearance. There are mainly 3 methods of processing gems:
- With a diamond cut, the facets are arranged in an order similar to a checkerboard pattern, and the contours of the facets resemble diamonds or triangles. This is how round stones are processed.
- Stepped processing looks like this: the edges go one above the other like isosceles triangles or trapezoids. They work in a similar way on rectangular gems.
- Small stones are processed with rose or rosette. The result is a flat base with a convex top that collects the edges. The play of light here is not strong and the cost of these stones is much lower.
Other gems
If you make the Top 10 most expensive gems in the world, then the red diamond, of course, will take first place.
2nd place
The second position can rightfully be given to grandidierite - a rare stone expressed in green-blue shades.
This is what a grandidierite gemstone looks like
. It must be said that some of the most expensive gemstones in the world are found infrequently, one might say, once every few years. They have complex names; many are named after the names of their discoverers. So this stone was first found by the Frenchman Alfred Grandidier.
An example of processed grandidierite
The gem is found in Madagascar, although it was originally found in Sri Lanka, and is also available in the USA, New Zealand, Norway, and Italy. Today there is data on different quantities of minerals, but there are no more than 20 of them. The cost of a copy reaches up to three tens of thousands of dollars.
Blue tourmaline
Blue tourmaline or Paraiba was discovered relatively recently - in 1987 in Brazil. It was believed that this was the only “habitat” of this stone, but already in 2001 it was discovered in Nigeria, and even the most experienced jewelers found it difficult to distinguish stones found on different continents. The cut stone is famous for its stunning “game”: the radiance of the mineral cannot be ignored even with a muted color.
More gems
It would be unfair not to remember the beautiful pearls. It has a place of honor in the list of precious stones. It is formed in a very interesting way - in the body of the oyster. Any foreign object that gets into the shell will be pushed out with the help of the released nacre. Stones with a thick layer of mother-of-pearl are elegant and not cheap. An interesting fact is that pearls are used without being processed.
Jewelry with pearls
Modern stones sold in stores are cultured, i.e. grown artificially. The bead is placed in the shell, pearls grow, but there is less layer of mother-of-pearl on it. Watch the video for an overview of the most expensive gems.
"Girls' Best Friends"
You can’t argue with nature: there are rarer gems and, perhaps, more expensive ones. But a cut diamond cannot be compared with anything. The word "diamond" in many European languages means the adjective "delightful".
Previously, diamond was considered an exclusively masculine gemstone that served as decoration:
- rings of rulers;
- ceremonial symbols of royal and royal power;
- crown;
- shoe buckles;
- buttons;
- weapons;
- even horse harness.
Since the 19th century. A diamond becomes a valuable gift specifically for women. A significant role in this was played by the House of Rothschild, who owned the diamond business, as well as an advertising campaign according to which a diamond was one of the main external symbols of the status of a person of high birth.
However, the phrase itself: “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend” appeared several decades later. And it belongs to the legendary actress of the twentieth century. Marilyn Monroe.
In the film “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” Marilyn sings that these stones can not only improve a girl’s mood, but also light a fire of happiness in her eyes
A little later, another Queen of Hollywood, Elizabeth Taylor, continued the tradition. She became the owner of a rare and beautiful pear-shaped diamond, named after the famous actor couple - “Taylor-Barton”. The stone is a gift from her husband Richard Burton, purchased at an auction at the Cartier jewelry house for $1.1 million (71.8 million rubles). Jewelry with this stone has gone down in the world history of jewelry, and the actress herself is captured with it in many photos.
Elizabeth Taylor with the 69.42-carat Taylor-Barton Diamond
Over time, fashion trends change, but the popularity of precious jewelry is unshakable.
Healing properties of gemstones
Many gems have incredible energy potential, positive vibrations, and this allows you to cure many diseases:
Existing types of gems
- various inflammations;
- skin diseases;
- bronchopulmonary, gastrointestinal diseases;
- have a good effect on a person’s mental state;
- normalize the functioning of the cardiovascular system;
- have a positive effect on female organs.
Minerals of organic nature
Amber necklace
European jewelers distinguish a special category - stones of organic origin. In the Russian system, only natural pearls are included in the first order of elite precious stones.
Among the stones of organic origin, we note:
- corals (formed from the skeletons of colonies of coral polyps);
- amber (is the resin of ancient coniferous trees, amber is mined in different countries: Russia, Mexico, Ukraine);
- mother of pearl (the inner layer of shellfish shells);
- ammolite (elements of the shell layer of ancient ammonites, characteristic of Canada and the USA);
- jet (a modification of coal that can be machined).
