This gorgeous green stone is smaller than a quarter, yet it’s worth more than a house…and it’s not even a diamond! This breathtaking stone is the world’s finest, largest Demantoid garnet from Russia with amazing intense green color and high dispersion (which makes it hard to take a good photo). The price tag of this stone, $308,000.00!
So why is this small stone so valuable? Demantoid garnets are generally quite small, in fact, anything over 1-2 carats is considered to be really huge. So this 11.24 carat stone is gigantic for a Russian demantoid.
Demantoid was discovered in the mid-1800s in the Western Urals and became very popular accent stones in high-end jewelry pieces. But production ceased during the Russian Revolution and demantoid fell out of popularity. In the late 1980s mining operations began once again with the reopening of the Soviet Union. The stone you see here is one of the stones that came out of the mine more recently.
You can find this piece among others at our National Gem and Mineral Collection at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC
Author: Michelle M. Rahm is a GIA-trained Graduate Gemologist and is President of Colorado’s Mile High Chapter of the GIA Alumni Association. She has been selling gemstones and jewelry online since 1997. Visit her websites JewelryImpressions.com and OurCustomWeddingRings.com
