Now we’re talking. Painite was once considered the rarest mineral on Earth. For decades, only two crystals existed. Two! In the entire world. One was in a museum. The other in a private collection. You couldn’t even buy it. It was like a secret club that refuses new members.
What does it look like? A dark, reddish-brown or orangey crystal. Not exactly a stunner. But its rarity is legendary. In the early 2000s, a few more deposits were found in Myanmar. But still, painite is astronomically expensive. A single, gem-quality painite can sell for $50,000 to $60,000 per carat.
I looked for one online. I found zero. Nada. It’s like trying to buy a ticket to the moon. You can dream, but you probably won’t get one.
Don’t Forget the Granddaddy: Blue Diamond
We can’t ignore the blue diamond. Especially the Hope Diamond (which is cursed, by the way—very bad coffee date stories). But for a pure, vivid blue diamond? The price tag is stupid high. In 2016, a 9.75-carat blue diamond sold for $26 million. That’s nearly $2.7 million per carat.
Why? Color. A deep, electric blue is almost never found in nature. It’s caused by trace amounts of boron. And boron is like a party crasher that shows up once in a billion years. So yes, a blue diamond is the most expensive per carat if you can afford one. But it’s still a diamond. Yawn.
Top 15 Most Expensive Gemstones In The World | Geology Page
