The “Big Four” gemstones, including diamonds, emeralds, rubies and sapphires, have serious competitors in the jewelry market. Spinels and tourmalines are rapidly gaining popularity in the gemstones segment, Mail.ru reports with reference to CNN.
Spinels, known for many centuries, lived for a long time in the shadow of their “brothers” in color - rubies. History remembers the famous 170-carat “ruby” in the crown of the British Empire, which actually turned out to be a spinel.
Today, spinel is emerging from the shadows. In 2015, a 50-carat copy was auctioned at Bonhams for 1,22 million USD, 6 times the estimate. Collectors and investors appreciated the beauty and rarity of these gems, mined in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Vietnam, Afghanistan and other countries.
The history of tourmalines is short, but already brilliant. Discovered in the 1980s in Paraiba, Brazil, these gems quickly won the love of connoisseurs. Unfortunately, the mine in Paraíba has already been depleted.
Scarcity creates demand, and demand pushes prices to new heights. Today, tourmaline mining is carried out in other places, for example, in Madagascar, but this does not negate their rarity.
In 2009, the price per carat of tourmaline was 4 800 USD, and in 2022 it has already reached 75 000 USD.