The Rarest Gemstone: Painite

Think diamonds are rare? There’s a gemstone so rare most people will never see one

in person. Hit Subscribe so you never miss mind-blowing facts like this!” “Alright—let’s dive

in.” “The gemstone is painite, once declared the rarest mineral on

Earth. When it was first discovered in Myanmar in the 1950s, only two crystals

existed, and scientists didn’t even know what they were looking at. Painite has a deep

reddish-brown color and a chemical mix—zirconium and boron—that’s almost never found together in nature.

Even though more has been discovered since, gem-quality painite is still incredibly

scarce, often selling for tens of thousands of dollars per carat.