Diamonds are valuable because they are somewhat rare, but its high cost per carat is really driven due to supply conditions controlled by the planet’s largest diamond company De Beers. There are several precious gemstones more rare that diamonds. Those stones include sapphires, rubies and emeralds. It just so happens that a rare colorless diamonds can bring top-level sales prices of more than $9,000 per carat. By controlling both the diamond supply, by spending huge amounts on adverstising, and by mining and producing fewer new diamonds each year than the market demands, it controls both demand and supply, which allows them to keep diamond prices high. There also happens to be several incredibly rare stunning prescious gemstones that are more valuable per carat than diamonds. Those high carat value gemstones are as follows:
Bixbite
Bixbitesis, also called red emerald or red beryl is one of the rarest precious gemstones on the planet. The gemstone is only found in the Violet Claim located in the State of Utah’s WahWah Mountains. It is the only bixbite type that can be gem cut by a lapidary into faceted crystals. Over the years bixbite gemstones have sold for prices near $10,000 per carat.
Musgravite
There is a smoky gray colored gemstone with violet and green subtle tinges. The gemstone is Musgravite, and it is exceedingly rare. Found in 1967 in the country of Australia, cuttable Musgravite gemstones were discovered in 1993. 14 years later in the year 2005, the gemstone is so rare in the world there was a total of 8 reported stones, but since then several other deposits of this rare gemstone have been found. The bigger supplies of Musgravite have not drive down the price or the desire for the gem. It has gone for prices as high as $35,000 per carat.
Painite
Rare is the word that comes to mind when one thinks of the gemstone Painite, a gemstone that is orange-red, or brownish red in color. It was found the country that was then known as Burma but is now called Mynamar. It was discovered in the 1950s. After its discovery, the country was taken over by a military coup and ran by a dictatorship through the year 2011. From the 1950s through the ensuing decades there were only a small number of the gemstones found. However, now there are more than 1,000 Painite crystals discovered. Because of this gemstone’s beauty and rarity prices for it run more than $60,000 per carat.
Alexandrite
In the 1830s the stunning gemstone alexandrite, named after the tsar, was found. It has highly unusual eye-fetching properties. It looks red in artificial lighting and in natural sunlight it appears green. When looked at from various angles the colors of the gemstone change. It looks purple-red, green, and orange when viewed from various vantage points. There have been other discoveries if this spectacular gemstone in other places. However, the gemstones found in the mine where it was first discovered are looked at as the most gorgeous and highly sought after. This gemstone has sold for as high as $10,000 per carat.
Grandidierite
Grandidierite was found in the country of Madagascar. The colors this gemstone exhibits include green, blue-green and it also can feature a somewhat clear mostly translucent pearly look. Grandidierite samples that can cut by a lapidary into facets are uncommon and highly desired because of its unique color changing qualities mentioned before. This gemstone has sold for up to $20,000 per carat.
