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00:00So, let's start.
00:01Number 10, red beryl.
00:03The crystal almost nobody finds.
00:06Red beryl looks like something that should be much more common than it actually is.
00:11It belongs to the same mineral family as emerald and aquamarine, but instead of green or blue,
00:17it develops an intense raspberry red color.
00:20The difference comes from tiny amounts of manganese inside the crystal structure.
00:25That small chemical difference produces a gemstone that is dramatically rarer than the varieties
00:31of beryl most people have seen.
00:33The Utah Geological Survey estimates that a red beryl crystal occurs roughly once for
00:38every 150,000 gem-quality diamonds.
00:42The story of red beryl begins in Utah.
00:45In 1904, mineral prospector Maynard Bixby discovered unusual red crystals in the Thomas range.
00:52At first, there was uncertainty about exactly what he had found because the color was unlike
00:57the familiar varieties of beryl.
00:59The mineral was eventually recognized as a distinct variety of beryl, and its deep red
01:04appearance came from manganese incorporated into the crystal.
01:08Today, the name red beryl is preferred, while the older name bixbite is largely avoided because
01:14it can be confused with another mineral called bixbyite.
01:17What makes the gemstone particularly difficult to obtain is the environment in which it forms.
01:23Red beryl develops in cavities and fractures within volcanic rhyolite, where hot, chemically
01:29unusual fluids and gases interacted with the surrounding rock as the volcanic material cooled.
01:34In the Wawa Mountains of Beaver County, Utah, these conditions produce the world's only
01:39known commercial occurrence of gem-quality red beryl at the ruby-violet claims.
01:44Even when crystals are found, most are far too small or heavily fractured to turn into
01:50finished gemstones.
01:51The Utah Geological Survey reports that many crystals are only a few millimeters across,
01:57while the largest crystal reported from the Wawa deposit measured about 34 millimeters long
02:02and 14 millimeters wide.
02:04That gives you an idea of why large, clean red beryl is so difficult to find.
02:09A piece can look impressive in its natural form while still being completely unsuitable
02:15for cutting.
02:15There are other reported occurrences of red beryl in Utah and New Mexico, but the Wawa Mountains
02:21remain the important source for gem-quality material.
02:24That combination of an extremely unusual color, a very restricted geological environment, and
02:31a high rate of unusable crystals makes red beryl one of the minerals that collectors can spend
02:36years searching for without ever finding a significant specimen.
02:40Number 9.
02:41Hibonite, the ancient mineral hidden in meteorites.
02:45Some minerals are rare because they almost never form on Earth.
02:50Hibonite is interesting for a completely different reason.
02:53Some of the most important specimens are pieces of material that formed before the planets themselves
02:58were fully assembled.
03:00Hibonite is found inside certain meteorites, particularly in calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions,
03:06or CAIs.
03:08These inclusions contain some of the oldest solid material preserved from the early solar
03:13system.
03:13When the early solar system was still a hot cloud of gas and dust, different minerals
03:18began condensing under extremely high temperatures.
03:22Hibonite is particularly important because it can form at temperatures above about 1700 Kelvin,
03:28making it one of the earliest minerals capable of crystallizing from that primitive material.
03:33Studies of Hibonite therefore give scientists information about conditions that existed around
03:38the young sun more than 4.5 billion years ago.
03:42The mineral itself is a calcium-aluminum oxide containing titanium and other elements.
03:48In meteorites, it can appear in tiny crystals, sometimes only a few micrometers across.
03:53Some varieties have an intense blue coloration and can display striking pleochroism, meaning
03:59the apparent color changes depending on the direction from which the crystal is viewed.
04:03The intensity of the blue coloration can be related to the amount and behavior of titanium
04:08within the mineral.
04:09Scientists have identified Hibonite in meteorites such as the famous Allende meteorite, which
04:14fell in Mexico in 1969, as well as other primitive meteorites.
04:18Research into these tiny grains has helped scientists reconstruct the chemical environment of the
04:24early solar system.
04:26Because Hibonite can preserve isotopic information from that period, individual grains can act
04:31almost like microscopic records of conditions that existed before Earth had finished forming.
04:36There is another reason Hibonite is fascinating.
04:39When you hold a meteorite containing one of these crystals, you're potentially looking
04:43at material that predates the Earth itself.
04:46The mineral didn't form inside an ancient terrestrial mountain and slowly survive through
04:51geological time.
04:52In many cases, its history reaches back to the earliest stages of the solar system, before
04:58the planets had their current orbits and before Earth existed in anything resembling its
05:02present form.
05:03That makes Hibonite unusual among rare minerals.
05:07Its importance isn't based simply on how expensive a cut gemstone might be.
05:11Its real value comes from what it can reveal.
05:14A microscopic crystal trapped inside a meteorite can preserve chemical evidence from a period
05:19of cosmic history that no rock on Earth's surface can directly recreate.
05:24Number 8.
05:26Grandidiorite, the elusive blue-green mineral.
05:29Grandidiorite is one of those minerals that can look almost unreal when you see a clean crystal.
05:35Its color ranges from bluish-green to greenish-blue, and some transparent specimens can display
05:40several colors depending on the viewing direction.
05:43This optical effect, called trichroism, is particularly noticeable in high-quality material.
05:49Yet, finding a specimen large and clean enough to appreciate these properties is exceptionally
05:55difficult.
05:55The Gemological Institute of America describes Grandidiorite as one of the world's rarest gems.
06:01The mineral was first discovered in southern Madagascar and was described in 1902.
06:07It was named after Alfred Grandidier, a French naturalist who spent much of his career studying
06:12Madagascar.
06:13For decades, Grandidiorite was mostly known to mineral collectors rather than jewelry buyers
06:18because transparent material suitable for cutting was extraordinarily scarce.
06:23Face table pieces larger than a millimeter were historically known from only Madagascar and Sri Lanka.
06:29The geology behind it is complicated.
06:32Grandidiorite forms in environments involving boron-rich rocks and high-temperature geological
06:37processes.
06:38It has been reported from several countries, including Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Norway, the
06:44United States, Canada, India, and Antarctica.
06:47But simply finding the mineral isn't enough.
06:50Most specimens are opaque, fractured, heavily included, or otherwise unsuitable for cutting.
06:55The real rarity begins when you look for material that is transparent and large enough to produce
07:01a finished gem.
07:02Madagascar became especially important when new deposits were identified in the southern
07:07part of the country.
07:08In 2014, researchers documented a deposit near Tranamaro, close to the original discovery area.
07:14Some crystals there reached several centimeters in size, and attempts were made to cut transparent
07:20portions into gemstones.
07:22The results were still remarkably small.
07:25The GIA study reported fewer than 10 stones above one carat from the material examined.
07:31And that is what makes grandidiorite so deceptive.
07:34The mineral itself isn't necessarily impossible to locate.
07:38The challenge is finding the tiny fraction of material that possesses the transparency, color,
07:44and clarity needed for a gem.
07:46A rough specimen can contain a beautiful blue-green section, but that section may be surrounded by
07:52cracks or inclusions that make cutting it into a finished stone extremely difficult.
07:57Some of the finest examples are tiny enough to fit comfortably on a fingernail, yet they
08:02can display a remarkable blue-green color that changes as the stone moves under light.
08:07For collectors, that combination of scarcity and unusual optical behavior is what makes grandidiorite
08:13so fascinating.
08:15And compared with the minerals still farther down this list, these stones are only the
08:19beginning of how extreme mineral rarity can become.
08:22Number 7.
08:23Taffiate.
08:24The mineral mistaken for spinel.
08:27For decades, taffiate was hiding in plain sight.
08:31The strange part is that nobody was actually looking for it.
08:34In the early 1940s, an Irish gemologist named Richard Taff purchased what appeared to be
08:40an ordinary collection of pale gemstones.
08:43They looked like spinels, a fairly well-known group of gemstones that can occur in similar
08:47colors.
08:48But when Taff examined one of the stones more carefully, something didn't add up.
08:53The stone had properties that spinel shouldn't have.
08:56Taff sent it for further examination, and testing eventually revealed that the gemstone was
09:01an entirely different mineral.
09:03It was later named Taffiate after its discoverer.
09:06What makes the story remarkable is that the first known specimen had already been cut and
09:11polished.
09:12It had spent time sitting among other gemstones before anyone realized it represented a completely
09:17separate mineral species.
09:19Taffiate is composed primarily of beryllium, magnesium, and aluminum, and its colors can range
09:25from nearly colorless to violet, mauve, pink, and reddish tones.
09:29It can also display a distinctive optical property called double refraction, meaning light passing
09:35through the crystal can split into two paths.
09:38This helps separate it from spinel, which is normally singly refractive.
09:42For a mineral collector, the discovery raised an obvious question.
09:46How many other Taffiates had already been mistaken for something else?
09:50That question became particularly interesting because Taffiate turned out to be extraordinarily
09:55uncommon.
09:57Gem quality material has historically been associated with Sri Lanka and Myanmar, although specimens
10:02have been found elsewhere.
10:04Even when the mineral occurs, crystals suitable for cutting are scarce, and many pieces are tiny
10:10or heavily included.
10:11There is also something almost backwards about Taffiate's history.
10:15Most rare gemstones are discovered because somebody encounters an unusual crystal in the
10:20ground.
10:20Taffiate was discovered because somebody questioned a gemstone that had already been removed from
10:25the ground, cut, and polished.
10:28Its rarity had been hiding behind a familiar identity.
10:31Today, Taffiate remains one of the rarest gemstones known to collectors.
10:35And its story illustrates just how easily a mineral can remain unidentified when it resembles
10:41something more familiar.
10:43Somewhere in an old collection, there could theoretically be another unusual stone that has been labeled
10:48incorrectly for decades.
10:50And that possibility is part of what makes rare mineral collecting so intriguing.
10:55Number 6.
10:57Muscovite.
10:57The gem hidden among rare stones.
11:01Muscovite belongs to a mineral family that already has a reputation for producing excessive
11:05exceptionally rare gemstones.
11:07It is closely related to Taffite, and the two can be difficult to distinguish without
11:12proper gemological testing.
11:14But Muscovite takes scarcity to another level, because finding a specimen that is both genuine
11:20and suitable for cutting is extremely difficult.
11:23The mineral was first discovered in 1967 in the Musgrave Ranges of South Australia, which
11:29is where it received its name.
11:31The original material was unusual enough to attract attention from mineralogists, but for
11:36many years, Muscovite remained almost exclusively a collector's mineral.
11:41Transparent, faceable material was exceptionally scarce, and large stones were virtually unheard
11:47of.
11:48Its colors can include grayish green, grayish purple, olive green, and other muted tones.
11:54That might sound less dramatic than the vivid colors associated with some famous gemstones,
11:59but Muscovite's appeal comes from what happens when a clean specimen is found.
12:04A transparent crystal can become a sophisticated looking gemstone with a subtle color that changes
12:10under different lighting conditions.
12:11The difficulty is that most material never gets anywhere near that stage.
12:16A mineral specimen can technically be Muscovite while being completely unsuitable for jewelry.
12:22Cracks, inclusions, and weak color can make cutting impractical.
12:27Gem cutters have to work with extremely limited material, and removing too much of the rough
12:32can mean turning an already tiny crystal into an even smaller finished stone.
12:36For years, the extreme scarcity of Muscovite made every new discovery significant.
12:42Material has since been identified in places including Madagascar, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania,
12:48but the supply of high-quality gem material remains very limited.
12:52And there is an interesting twist to its story.
12:56Because Muscovite and Taphite are chemically related, identification can require sophisticated
13:01testing.
13:02A stone that looks unusual under ordinary examination may need laboratory analysis before its true
13:08identity becomes clear.
13:10That means the most interesting moment for a collector isn't necessarily when a huge
13:14crystal is pulled from the ground.
13:16Sometimes it is when a tiny, unimpressive looking stone reaches a laboratory and the analysis
13:22produces a result nobody expected.
13:25A mineral that looked like an obscure collector's stone can suddenly become something extraordinarily rare.
13:31Number 5.
13:33Jeremiavite, the nearly invisible gem.
13:36Jeremiavite is the kind of mineral that could easily be overlooked if you didn't know exactly
13:41what you were searching for.
13:43Its crystals can be pale blue, yellowish, colorless, or nearly transparent, and some are so small
13:50that they don't initially look like anything particularly remarkable.
13:53Yet, gem-quality Jeremiavite is among the rarest materials that can actually be cut into gemstones.
14:00The mineral was first discovered in Siberia in 1883 and was named after Russian mineralogist
14:07Pavel Jeremiav.
14:08The original crystals were tiny, and for a long time, Jeremiavite was known almost entirely
14:14as a mineralogical curiosity rather than a gemstone.
14:17That changed dramatically with discoveries in Namibia.
14:21In the 1970s, crystals were found at a deposit near the town of Swakopmund.
14:26Some of the crystals were transparent and possessed an attractive pale blue color.
14:31Suddenly, a mineral that had been known from only a handful of small specimens became something
14:36collectors and gem enthusiasts were actively searching for.
14:40But there was a catch.
14:41Even at the Namibian locality, the crystals were uncommon, and many were too small or imperfect
14:47to cut.
14:48The best examples could be only a few millimeters across.
14:52A gem cutter, therefore, has very little room for error.
14:55Remove too much material, and an already rare crystal can become a tiny, finished stone with
15:01very little value as a gemstone.
15:03Some Jeremiavite crystals are so clear that they almost disappear against a white background.
15:08Others have a delicate blue color that becomes visible only when light passes through them.
15:14This creates an unusual problem for collectors.
15:17The most valuable specimens can be surprisingly easy to overlook when they're sitting beside
15:22larger, more colorful minerals.
15:24And then there's the question of where the next crystal might come from.
15:28Jeremiavite has been reported from several localities, but significant gem quality material
15:34remains extremely uncommon.
15:36Unlike minerals that occur in huge deposits and are mined continuously, Jeremiavite can
15:41appear in isolated pockets where geological conditions happen to line up in an unusually
15:46precise way.
15:47That makes each discovery difficult to predict.
15:50A mine can produce ordinary-looking rock for years, while a tiny cavity somewhere inside
15:56the deposit could contain crystals that are dramatically rarer than almost everything around them.
16:01And when the crystal itself is nearly invisible, you could be standing only centimeters away
16:06from something extraordinarily rare without realizing it.
16:104.
16:11Serendibite.
16:12The exceptionally rare blue gem.
16:15Serendibite is so rare that even among rare gemstones, it occupies an unusual position.
16:21The mineral was first discovered in Sri Lanka, which was historically known as Serendib, and
16:27that is where it got its name.
16:28The original specimens were not famous for their jewelry potential.
16:32They were interesting mineralogical discoveries, but transparent material suitable for cutting
16:37was almost non-existent.
16:39That changed when gem-quality Serendibite was discovered in Myanmar.
16:43Suddenly, collectors had access to crystals with deep blue, blue-green, and almost black colors
16:50that could be transparent enough to cut.
16:52But the supply was incredibly limited.
16:55Only a tiny fraction of the material was suitable for faceting, and the finished stones were usually
17:00very small.
17:02Serendibite is particularly interesting because its color can change noticeably depending on
17:07the direction from which it is viewed.
17:09This is caused by strong pleochroism, an optical property produced by the way light interacts
17:14with the crystal structure.
17:16A single stone can therefore reveal different shades as it is rotated under a light source.
17:21But finding one is the difficult part.
17:24The mineral forms under unusual geological conditions involving high temperatures and specific
17:30chemical environments.
17:31Even where Serendibite has been identified, gem-quality crystals are extraordinarily scarce.
17:36Some specimens are so small that cutting them produces a gemstone that can barely be seen
17:42without magnification.
17:44For collectors, this creates a strange situation.
17:47A mineral can be known scientifically, have documented localities, and even have examples in museums,
17:53while still being almost impossible for an ordinary collector to encounter.
17:57And because Serendibite can resemble other dark blue or green minerals, determining exactly
18:03what you're looking at may require laboratory testing.
18:06A tiny stone that initially seems unremarkable can turn out to be something that exists in
18:11only a handful of gem-quality examples.
18:14Number 3.
18:15Poudretite the tiny crystal from Canada.
18:18Poudretite has one of those discoveries that sounds almost too convenient.
18:23It was first found in Canada at the Poudret family quarry in Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Quebec.
18:28The mineral was initially identified as extremely tiny crystals measuring only fractions of
18:33a millimeter.
18:34For decades, almost nobody outside mineralogical circles had any reason to think that larger,
18:40gem-quality examples might exist.
18:43Then, years later, something unexpected happened.
18:46A much larger transparent crystal was discovered in Myanmar.
18:50Instead of being a microscopic curiosity, the new material was large enough to be examined,
18:56and eventually cut.
18:57Gemologists were able to confirm that it was Poudretite, transforming the mineral from an
19:02obscure Canadian discovery into one of the world's rarest gemstones.
19:06The contrast between the original specimens and the later discovery is what makes the story
19:11so interesting.
19:12The first crystals were so small that you needed a microscope to properly appreciate them.
19:17The Myanmar material proved that nature was capable of producing much larger examples
19:22under the right conditions.
19:23Poudretite is usually colorless to pale pink and can have remarkable transparency.
19:29Some crystals have a delicate pinkish hue that becomes particularly attractive when the
19:34stone is cut.
19:35But large, clean specimens remain extraordinarily scarce.
19:39The mineral itself is a rare borosilicate mineral, and its formation requires a very unusual
19:45combination of geological conditions.
19:47Mont-Saint-Hilaire is famous among mineral collectors because its rocks have produced an enormous variety
19:53of unusual minerals, many of them found nowhere else in significant quantities.
19:57Yet Poudretite managed to remain particularly elusive.
20:01That raises an intriguing possibility whenever collectors explore unusual mineral deposits.
20:06The first specimens found may tell only part of the story.
20:10A mineral that appears to exist only as microscopic crystals could theoretically have larger counterparts
20:16waiting somewhere else.
20:18In Poudretite's case, that possibility eventually became reality.
20:232.
20:24Poudretite.
20:25Poudretite.
20:25The mineral once thought to be the rarest on Earth.
20:28For many years, Poudretite had an almost legendary reputation.
20:33Only a tiny number of crystals were known, and for decades, it was frequently described
20:38as the rarest gemstone or mineral on Earth.
20:42Its story began in Myanmar, where British mineralogist Arthur Payne acquired what he initially
20:47believed were unusual brown crystals of another mineral.
20:51Testing revealed something far more interesting.
20:54The stones represented a previously unknown mineral, which was eventually named Paynite after Payne.
21:00The crystals were brownish-red, reddish-brown, or sometimes orange, and their chemistry was
21:05unusual enough to make them instantly interesting to mineralogists.
21:09But the real mystery was how few existed.
21:12For decades, only a handful of Paynite crystals were known.
21:16Museums and private collections guarded specimens that could be counted almost one by one.
21:21A mineral could technically be known to science while still being so scarce that almost nobody
21:26had ever seen one in person.
21:28Then, new deposits were discovered in Myanmar, dramatically changing the situation.
21:33Thousands of crystals eventually entered the mineral market.
21:36But this didn't make high-quality Paynite suddenly common.
21:40Much of the newly discovered material was heavily fractured, opaque, or otherwise unsuitable
21:45for cutting.
21:46The distinction matters.
21:48A mineral can stop being extraordinarily rare in its raw form while remaining extremely rare
21:53as a beautiful gemstone.
21:55Paynite also has a striking appearance.
21:57Its reddish-brown color can resemble other gemstones.
22:00And under certain lighting, some specimens display orange or reddish flashes.
22:05But knowing that a stone is Paynite requires more than simply looking at its color.
22:09Its crystal structure and chemical composition have to match.
22:13The most fascinating part of Paynite's history may be the transition from mystery to abundance.
22:19For decades, researchers knew the mineral existed but had almost no specimens to study.
22:24Then, suddenly, new discoveries revealed that nature had been producing far more of it than
22:29anyone realized.
22:31And yet, even after that discovery, finding a large, clean, gem-quality crystal remained a
22:37serious challenge.
22:39Number 1.
22:40Kyothwaite.
22:41The single crystal mineral.
22:44At the very end of the list is a mineral with a story that sounds almost impossible.
22:49Kyothwaite.
22:50A mineral known from a single, natural specimen.
22:53The specimen was discovered in Myanmar and was reportedly found as a small, reddish-brown
22:58crystal among gem-bearing material.
23:00At first glance, there was nothing about it that suggested it would become one of the most
23:04extraordinary mineral specimens ever studied.
23:07The stone was eventually examined by researchers, who determined that it represented a previously
23:12unknown mineral species.
23:14In 2015, the International Mineralogical Association approved Kyothwaite as a new mineral.
23:20The original specimen was tiny, weighing only about 1.61 carats.
23:25But its size wasn't what made it extraordinary.
23:28It was the fact that, for years after its discovery, that one crystal was the only known natural example
23:35of Kyothwaite on Earth.
23:36That makes its story very different from a mineral like painite.
23:40Painite went from having only a few known crystals to being discovered in much larger quantities.
23:46Kyothwaite, by contrast, remained represented by an extraordinarily limited natural sample.
23:52The mineral is composed primarily of bismuth, antimony, tantalum, oxygen, and other elements,
23:58arranged into a crystal structure that had never previously been documented in nature.
24:03Researchers had to study its chemistry and physical properties carefully before confirming
24:08that they were dealing with something completely new.
24:11And think about what that means.
24:13Somewhere in Myanmar, a tiny crystal formed under geological conditions that may have been
24:18exceptionally unusual.
24:20It survived everything that happened to the surrounding rock, was eventually recovered,
24:24and reached scientists who realized that they were looking at something the mineralogical
24:29world had never officially documented before.
24:31The crystal is now associated with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, where
24:36it can be studied as the type specimen for the mineral.
24:39For something that weighs little more than a gram, or in this case, far less, the scientific
24:45significance is enormous.
24:47There may be other Kyothwaite crystals somewhere beneath the Earth's surface.
24:51There may even be more waiting in an old mineral collection, incorrectly identified decades ago.
24:56But until another natural specimen is confirmed, that original crystal remains in a category
25:02almost nothing else can claim.
25:04A mineral species represented by a single known natural crystal.
25:08Thank you for watching and sticking till the end.
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