Gemstones Ranked
Gemstone↕ | Mohs Hardness↕ | Classic Color↕ | Price Per Carat (fine)↕ | Known For↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Diamond | 10 (hardest) | Colorless (fancy: all colors) | $2,000-$50,000+ | Hardest natural material — De Beers invented the engagement ring tradition in 1947, 'diamonds are forever' is marketing genius, lab-grown disrupting the industry, blood diamond controversy, 4Cs grading system |
Ruby | 9 | Red (pigeon blood red most prized) | $1,000-$100,000+ | King of colored gemstones — pigeon blood red from Myanmar is most valuable, rarer than diamonds in fine quality, corundum mineral (same as sapphire), associated with passion and power, some sell for more per carat than diamonds |
Emerald | 7.5-8 | Green | $500-$50,000+ | Cleopatra's obsession — Colombian emeralds are the benchmark, inclusions are expected ('jardin' = garden), brittle despite moderate hardness, Muzo mine produces the finest, green that no other gem matches |
Sapphire | 9 | Blue (also pink, yellow, every color) | $500-$50,000+ | Princess Diana's ring made blue sapphire iconic — Kashmir sapphires are the holy grail, comes in every color except red (that's ruby), padparadscha (pink-orange) is rarest variety, engagement ring alternative |
Opal | 5.5-6.5 | Play-of-color (rainbow fire) | $10-$10,000+ | Living rainbow in a stone — play-of-color shows shifting spectral colors, Australian Lightning Ridge produces finest black opals, 'bad luck' superstition is nonsense, contains up to 20% water, fragile and magical |
Alexandrite | 8.5 | Green in daylight, red in incandescent | $5,000-$70,000+ | The color-change miracle — 'emerald by day, ruby by night,' discovered in Russia 1830, named after Czar Alexander II, finest specimens from Russia nearly exhausted, most dramatic color change in nature |
Tanzanite | 6-7 | Violet-blue | $200-$1,200 | Found in only one place on Earth — foothills of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, 1,000x rarer than diamond, Tiffany & Co. named and marketed it, supply may run out in 20 years, stunning blue-violet unique to this stone |
Jade (Jadeite) | 6.5-7 | Green (imperial jade) | $100-$30,000+ | More valuable than gold in Chinese culture — imperial jade (vivid green jadeite) is the finest, 5,000+ years of cultural significance, tougher than steel despite moderate hardness, Myanmar produces the best |
Amethyst | 7 | Purple | $5-$50 | Was as valuable as diamond until massive Brazilian deposits found — royal purple, name means 'not intoxicated' in Greek (believed to prevent drunkenness), February birthstone, affordable luxury, gorgeous in cathedral geodes |
Tourmaline | 7-7.5 | Every color (Paraiba blue-green prized) | $50-$10,000+ (Paraiba) | More colors than any other gem — Paraiba tourmaline (neon blue-green) can rival diamond prices, watermelon variety is pink and green, bi-color specimens common, electrically charged when heated |
Garnet | 6.5-7.5 | Red (also green, orange, every color) | $5-$5,000 | Not just a red gem — tsavorite green rivals emerald, demantoid has more fire than diamond, spessartine mandarin orange is stunning, January birthstone, ancient Romans used them, underrated and versatile |
Pearl | 2.5-4.5 (soft) | White, cream, black, pink | By mm ($50-$10,000+ per strand) | The only gem made by a living creature — oysters and mussels create them, Mikimoto invented cultured pearls in 1893, South Sea and Tahitian are largest, Akoya are classic, organic and warm against skin |
Moonstone | 6-6.5 | Translucent with blue sheen | $10-$200 | Ethereal blue glow (adularescence) — light seems to float inside the stone, associated with the moon in many cultures, Art Nouveau jewelers loved it, Sri Lankan moonstones have the finest blue flash |
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This dataset contains 13 entries, each with multiple sortable, filterable columns. The full table is visible on this page and can be downloaded as a CSV, JSON, or Excel file.
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