1 Red Diamond receives its red color from radioactive radiation that deforms the crystal lattice without damaging it
Red Diamond is the rarest diamond variety because its formation requires a unique geochemical environment - some components must be present and available at the same location and time of crystal formation. Red diamond is found mostly in Africa, Australia and Brazil.
Your gemstone lists are cool.
Interesting.
2 Goshenite (colorless beryl) is so transparent that the first eyeglasses were constructed in the 13th century in Italy with goshenite lenses, and eyeglasses in some languages were named for beryl - bril, Brillen, Briller
(Brillen in German, Briller in Danish and bril in Dutch)
3 Blue Star Sapphire gets its star from needle-like rutile inclusions inside the gem also known as "rutile silk". Only 3 out of 100 rough sapphires have stars
Rutile is a crystal of titanium dioxide.
4 Alexandrite changes its color depending on the type and intensity of light - it can be green at noon (daylight) and red at midnight (incandescent light)
That's why people say "Alexandrite is emerald at noon and ruby at midnight"
5 Painite is the rarest gem mineral - for decades, only two painite crystals have been known to exist
In 2005 The Guinness Book of World Records described painite as the rarest gem mineral.
I bet it would cost stupid money for a gem collector to get that in their collection.
6 Moissanite sparkles more than diamond
7 Cullinan Diamond is the largest rough gem-quality diamond ever found
Weight - 621.350 g.
The Cullinan rough diamond produced 105 stones of various cuts and sizes.
It was discovered in South Africa in 1905
8 Andalusite exhibits different colors when observed at different angles
9 Opal's multi-color appearance is just light interfering within the microstructure of the gem, no actual objects inside the stone
No actual objects inside, unlike Star Sapphire and Star Ruby that have rutile needles
10 Benitoite fluoresces bright blue under short-wave ultraviolet light and red under long-wave ultraviolet light
Only some of them can fluoresce red though
The Contenders
11 Emerald, Aquamarine, Morganite, Goshenite, Red Beryl (Bixbite) and several more gems are just different color varieties of Beryl
Emerald is deep green beryl, Aquamarine is pale blue beryl, Morganite is pink beryl, Goshenite is colorless beryl, and so on.
12 Morganite was named after the famous American banker and gem enthusiast, John Pierpont Morgan
Morganite is the pink variety of beryl
13 Tanzanite is only found in Tanzania, in the Mount Kilimanjaro region
14 Marquise Cut / Navette Cut / Football-shaped Cut was named for Marquise de Pompadour because King Louis XIV of France commissioned a diamond with this shape for her
That's the best cut / shape for me - its elongated shape flatters the finger, making it appear longer and slimmer.
15 Russia is the biggest producer of diamonds in the world
Russia, or the Russian Federation (RF), is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world by area, covering over 17,125,191 square kilometres (6,612,073 sq mi), and encompassing one-eighth of Earth's inhabitable landmass. Russia extends across ...read more.
16 Lapis Lazuli is technically a rock used as a gem
17 Sapphire can occur in all colors except red because the red variety of corundum was already called ruby
Sapphire and Ruby are almost identical gems - they are color varieties of the same mineral (corundum). Ruby can be described as red sapphire.
18 Benitoite was named for San Benito County, California
And in 1985 benitoite was named as the official state gem of California.
19 Most natural diamonds have ages between 1 billion and 3.5 billion years
20 Most diamonds were formed at depths of 150 to 250 kilometers (93 to 155 mi) in the Earth's mantle
But a few have come from as deep as 800 kilometers (500 mi)
21 Diamond, Graphite and Coal are forms of carbon but they are so different