Top 10 Gemstones that are Number 1 in a Particular Category

The Top Ten
1 Painite - the rarest gem

Only two painite crystals have been known to exist since its discovery in 1956. Painite is on The Guinness Book of World Records as the rarest gem mineral. Its hardness is excellent - 8/10, same as topaz.

But what if entire earth mantle is made of painite you never kno

Whoa! Looks cool!

Cool. Imagine a Pokémon game called Pokémon Painite. I think this is my new favorite gemstone, not just because it has pain in its name.

2 Diamond - the hardest gem

Hardness is resistance to scratching. If you rub a diamond against any other gem, diamond will scratch all of them. But no other natural gem can scratch the diamond.
That's why its hardness is 10/10.

Also the most expensive

3 Jadeite - the toughest gem

Jadeite is not the hardest gem (diamond is) but jadeite is the toughest.

The difference between hardness and thoughness is that hardness is resistance to scratching while toughness is resistance to mechanical shock, such as hitting it with a hammer or bumping it against a hard surface. Toughness is resistance to cracking or breaking. Because of its toughness, it was first used to manufacture ax heads, weapons, and tools for scraping and hammering. It has been used for over 5,000 years.

There is an old saying that, "if you hit a diamond with a hammer, it will shatter into a dozen pieces. If you hit a piece of quartz with a hammer, it will split in two. Hit a piece of jade with a hammer and it will ring like a bell."

I wanna try smashing that thing with a sledgehammer and see what happens. I hope it doesn't break.

I better make a titanium suit and incrust with Jadeite then.

4 Tourmaline - the most colorful mineral and natural gem material on Earth

You can see why although the image doesn't show all possible colors tourmaline can exhibit - tourmaline crystals can have different color combinations. Tourmaline also occurs as mono-color crystals that can be different colors - blue, red, green, all colors actually.

Looks brilliant

Looks beautiful

5 Zircon - the oldest known gem and the oldest pieces of our planet’s surface (4.4 billion years old)

The oldest zircon crystals are from the Jack Hills of western Australia. The sample found there in 2014 is literally from the beginning of our planet! The analysis was made by Professor John Valley, a geo science expert from the University of Wisconsin, US.

6 Moissanite - the closest gem to diamond

They are very similar, including moissanite hardness at 9.5/10.

Moissanite even does one thing better than diamond - it sparkles more than diamond.

7 Black Diamond / Carbonado - the toughest form of diamond

Black Diamond is the diamond that is the most resistant to mechanical shock (see above - Jadeite).

Also, Black Diamond is the most mysterious diamond - probably the only type of diamond that can't form on Earth: it probably can only form in outer space and then comes to Earth with meteorites (for more details, visit the list Top 10 Gemstones Formed with Extraterrestrial Help)

I think my mum has both black diamond and normal diamond on her wedding ring.

Black is a cool looking color on a diamond.

This information is unique

8 Red Diamond - the rarest diamond

Ooh... Pretty... (You might want to hide it from me.)

And the most expensive diamond

9 Cubic Zirconia - the most popular synthetic diamond alternative

Cubic zirconia is the most gemologically and economically important competitor for diamonds

10 Cymophane / Cat's Eye / Cat's Eye Chrysoberyl - the only gem that can be referred to as "cat's eye" with no other designation

When you say "cat's eye", it means this particular gem only. It's because it exhibits the finest "cat's eye". To indicate the cat's eye phenomenon in another stone, e.g., in aquamarine, you have to say "cat's eye aquamarine" or "cat's eye tourmaline", and so on.

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