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The world's rarest gemstone

20.02.16

Next to phosphophyllite, painite is regarded as one of the "Holy Grail" gemstones and one of the rarest minerals on the planet.

 

 

In fact, The Guinness Book of World Records called painite the world's rarest gemstone mineral in 2005. 

 

 

For decades there were only two known crystals of the mineral on Earth. By 2005, there were still fewer than 25 known specimens.

 

 

It was named after its discoverer, British gemmologist Arthur Charles Davy Pain, and was first found in Myanmar in 1950s.

 

 

Painite has an orange-red to brownish-red colour similar to topaz due to trace amounts of iron. The crystals are naturally hexagonal in shape, and, until late 2004, only two had been cut into faceted gemstones.

 

 

It is very difficult to find stones with good transparency and rich colour. Most gems are too dark to see any colour so they appear black, with the majority of cut painites being less than 1/4 carat.

 

 

Recently, the rare minerals have been discovered in a new location – Mogok, in the north of Myanmar. Mogok has been famous since ancient times for its gemstones, especially ruby and sapphire, but also many semi-precious stones such as lapis lazuli, garnet, moonstone, peridot and chrysoberyl.

 

 

Also known as the “Valley of rubies”, Mogok has been the home to the world's finest "pigeon's blood" rubies as well as highly-valued "royal" blue sapphires.

 

 

Extensive exploration in the Mogok region has identified several new painite occurrences. The extensive exploration of the region has revealed a few thousand new painite specimens.

 

 

Most of the recent crystals and fragments are dark, opaque, incomplete crystals. A modest number of transparent crystals have been found and have been either saved as crystals or cut into gemstones.

 

Due to its tremendous rarity, painite is highly valued in the marked, about £3,500 per carat.