The
largest single piece of naturally occurring gold in the world,
known as the "Hand of Faith" weights nearly 62lbs and
was found in 1980 by an Australian man with a metal detector. The
Golden Nugget Casino purchased the huge gold nugget for a million
dollars. The nugget was found only six inches below the surface
of the earth, making it a very spectacular find indeed.
Currently,
the largest cut diamond in the world is known as the Cullinan I,
or the "Star of Africa." It was named after the owner
of the mining company that found the Diamond. It was cut by Asscher
in Amsterdam and weighs in at a whopping 530.20 carats, with 74
facets. Today, the Cullinan Diamond is the centerpiece of the scepter
for King Edward VII.
The Earth's biggest diamond pales grossly in comparison
to the Universes biggest known diamond. Some 50 light
years away, in the constellation Centaurus, lies the
biggest diamond known at the heart of an old start
that was once like our sun but has since faded and
shrunk. The cosmic diamond is crystallized carbon and
is 4,000km across. It is, in carats, 10 billion trillion
trillion carats, and easily the most expensive diamond
in all existence.
The
largest and most expensive pearl ever to be found is known as the "Pearl
of Lao Tzu," although it is sometimes referred to as "The
Pearl of Allah." It measures 9.45 inches in diameter and weighs
14.1lbs. It is approximately 31,893.5 carats. It is sometimes known
as the "Pearl of Allah" because it somewhat resembles
a turbaned head. The pearl itself is valued at nearly 60 Million
dollars and was extracted from a giant clam off the coast of Palawan
in 1934 by a Filipino diver. It was given to an American (Wilburn
Cobb), as a token of gratitude for his life saving measures of
the Palawan Village Chief's son. The pearl has had many potential
buyers, but currently remains in the ownership of the Pearl For
Peace foundation, a charitable organization.
The
Gachala Emerald is the largest in the world, weighing in at 858
carats. The crystal was found in 1967 at the Vega de San Juan mine
in Columbia. It was named after the mining district that it was
discovered in, but it now resides in the United States after being
donated to the Smithsonian Museum by famous NY Jeweler, Harry Winston.
5.)
Largest Ruby in The world
125West Ruby
Greenland Carved Ruby
The
world's largest known ruby is currently for sale. The ruby is
for sale from a company known as 125West. The single ruby weighs
8.2 lbs and is 18,696 carats. It is considered semi-translucent
to opaque, containing rutile. Depending on how the ruby is cut
by whoever purchases it, it will become not the largest cut ruby
in the world. An accurate selling price of this ruby has not
been revealed.
Currently, the largest ruby in the Northwestern hemisphere
is the Greenland Ruby, and was carved by Thomas MacPhee over
the course of 10 months. It eventually produced a 302 carat
stone with beautiful engravings and carvings. It is worth $500,000.
The
Millennium Sapphire is a 61,500 carat sapphire. It is currently
carved beautifully, but is posed to break at least three world
records. It could be soon considered the largest cut and polished
sapphire, as well as the largest carved sapphire and then the largest
and highest priced sapphire ever sold. The Millennium Sapphire
was discovered in Madagascar in 1995 and is valued at between 90
and 500 million dollars. In 2001, the Guinness book of World Records
issued the Sapphire a certificate designating it as the world's
largest carved sapphire.
Alexandrite
is a variety of a mineral known as chrysoberyl, which is the 3rd
hardest natural rock on earth. It was discovered in 1831 in the
Ural Mountains of Russia. This rock is especially interesting,
and expensive due to its color changing properties, with exceptional
rocks turning from green to deep purple depending on the light.
The largest Alexandrite was found in Sri Lanka and is a whopping
1,876 carats. The largest cut alexandrite is only 66 carats and
is on display at the Smithsonian.
8.)
World's Most Expensive Kidney Stone
Goldanpalace.com,
the casino known for paying money for outrageous things (think
the girl with the forehead tattoo), has agreed to pay $25,000 for
the recently passed kidney stone of William Shatner. The money
is to go to the Habitat for Humanity, and the price paid for the
stone will cover about 1/2 the price of one house. Apparently "Captain
Kirk" said the stone was "so large you'd want to wear
it on your finger." Gross.
Moon
rocks are arguably the most expensive non-radioactive rocks on
earth. In May of 2004, a tiny moon rock the size of a raisin was
stolen from a museum in Malta, 30 years after it had been donated
by President Nixon. The rock was valued at an unbelievable 5 million
dollars. It was picked up in the lunar valley known as Taurus-Littrow
during the last Apollo moon mission, and was one of a number of
moon rocks given to nations by the US throughout the world.
10.)
The Most Expensive (for its weight)
non-radiological gemstone found on earth.
Although
many people perceive diamonds to be quite rare, the reality is
that tons of diamonds are found each year, and that there are a
very large number of diamonds throughout the world. True rarity,
however, is found in colored diamonds, for which there are only
a small number. The rarest of the colored diamond is the red diamond,
with there being only a few dozen in existence. The largest of
these diamonds is one known as the Moussaieff Red Diamond, which
measures 5.11 carats. While this is somewhat small compared to
the 100+ carat "large diamonds", it is still a few carats
larger than any other known red diamond. It was originally known
as the "red shield," but is currently owned by Moussaieff
Jewelers Ltd. While its estimated value is unknown, it is believed
to be the single most concentrated form of wealth on earth, aside
from radioactive material.
11.)
World's largest and most expensive colored diamond on earth
While
the Red Shield may be the most concentrated form of wealth, it
is not the most expensive colored diamond. That record goes to
the blue "Heart of Eternity," a heart shaped diamond
cut by the Steinmetz group, formerly owned by De Beers. The Heart
of Eternity was found in the Premier Diamond mine in South Africa.
Colored diamonds account for 0.1% of all diamonds produced by that
mine, and it is the only mine that has ever produced quality blue
diamonds. The 27 carat diamond is worth at least 16 million dollars.
12.)
Rarest Mineral on Earth
Source
(Wikipedia)
Painite
is described by the Guinness Book of World Records as the rarest
gem mineral on earth. In 2005 there were only 18 known specimens,
which were all numbered and accounted for. The image shown here
is specimen number 5 and weighs in at 2.54 carats. Painite is pink
to red or brown and shows many different hues from different angles.
Furthermore, it glows green under shortwave UV light. It is mainly
found in Mogok and Kachin State in Myanmar. Because it is exceedingly
rare, it is considered priceless.
