Five most precious stones.

Five most precious stones.

Emerald – a very rare precious stone. It is sometimes considered valuable than diamond. While most other gemstones can be found in deposits of gravel along rivers, emerald is found in the rock, where it was formed. Emerald is a rare form of the mineral beryl, which is present in abundance.

The most prized emeralds are those with a vivid grass-green tone. Unlike other stones, flaws in emeralds do not undermine their value, since it is extremely rare to come by perfect specimens.


Ruby – one of the oldest known precious gems, it adorned not only the rich and beautiful, but also poetry through the ages. The value of the ruby has only appreciated with time, so as its rarity.

The rubies of the highest quality have a characteristic purplish red color and are called pigeon blood rubies. Fine specimens of ruby are more valuable than a diamond of the same size and character. The best pieces are found in Northern Burma, which still remains the largest source of rubies.

Sapphire – is technically the same as ruby formed of the same mineral, corundum. In contrast to the ruby, which is the red corundum, the sapphire spans a range of colors – blue, yellow, pink and green. Normally, sapphires with a deep blue with black to a light blue tinge are highly prized.

Sapphires are abundant than rubies and are therefore not as expensive. The stones with the deepest and darkest colors are considered as the finest specimens. However, the green sapphire is considered to be the most precious of all stones, than even the emerald, which is also a green gemstone.

Pearl – is not exactly a stone, but a layered, calcareous, crystalline deposit formed by pearl oysters. The finest pearls are perfect spheres and are highly iridescent. Pearls are made of translucent layers of calcium carbonate in crystalline form and the light reflected or refracted by the layers gives them their luster. Natural pearls occur in the wild without any human intervention and are very rare. These are called nacreous pearls and are produced by two groups of molluscans.

However, most of the pearls available today are cultured pearls that are formed due to human intervention. Pearls are actually a form of self defense employed by the clams against external bodies and irritants, by enveloping them in fine layers of nacre.

Diamond – is a curious and resplendent substance, both as a gemstone and as a compound. It has a unique crystalline structure that endows it with its remarkable physical properties such as the characteristic hardness and sparkle.