Most Expensive Materials On Earth By Weight (per gram)
5. Taaffeite Stone – $20,000 per gram
Taaffeite (/ˈtɑːfaɪt/; BeMgAl4O8) is a mineral, named after its discoverer Richard Taaffe (1898–1967) who found the first sample, a cut and polished gem, in October 1945 in a jeweler’s shop[1] in Dublin, Ireland. As such, it is the only gemstone to have been initially identified from a faceted stone. Most pieces of the gem, prior to Taaffe, had been misidentified as spinel. For many years afterwards, it was known only in a few samples, and is still one of the rarest gemstone minerals in the world.
Taaffeite stone is another incredibly rare gemstone only recently identified by collectors. The attractive colors of this rare material range from red to purple, although there are less than ten red taaffeite stones known to exist.
The amount of taaffeite discovered would fill the volume of approximately half a cup.