“It’s called kyawthuite (cha-too-ite), a tiny, tawny-hued grain weighing just a third of a gram (1.61 carats). On first glance, you might mistaken it for amber or topaz; but the unassuming mineral speck has value beyond measure.”
Gemological Institute of America (GIA) Laboratory in Bangkok, Thailand
These gemologists seem graphologically confused
Anything else good at the natural history museum in LA?
Yeah, it’s pretty nice actually. Cool gardens, gem room, lots of dino and evolution stuff… Not as big as the AMNH in Manhattan, but they did a good job with their smaller space.
So this mineral was found in the Mogok region of Myanmar, and the second rarest mineral, painite, was also found in the Mogok region of Myanmar. It sounds like there’s something funky going on there geologically speaking, and it’s probably not a coincidence that the country had been mostly closed off from the rest of the world for decades.
They have vibranium. Just saying.
Myanmar does have a good quantity of mineral and gemological resources, it wouldn’t surprise me if there were even more unique properties there.
“This is the rarest mineral in the world. Let’s cut off bits to make facets.”
People are so fucking weird.
Imagine reading the article. I did, and I can tell you that nobody who did would make this comment.
You caught me. I’m a terrible lying liar who only says things like this to impress people on the internet by making them think I did something stupid instead of something else stupid. It’s all part of my fiendish plan to make people think I’m an idiot. You found me out. Curses!
He didn’t know until after it was faceted…
“thought the raw gem was a mineral called scheelite. After he faceted the stone, though, he realized that he was looking at something unusual.”
Like the guy who cut down the oldest know tree to find out how old it was. It wasn’t known how old it was at the time. (They have found probably older but don’t want to cut them down to find out.)
This is what I get for only skimming the article.
Well, when you need to be in every thread that’s gotta limit your reading time
And this is what I get for reading the comments. NOT having to read the article.
I was in on it early, so I have no excuse other than I need to read more carefully next time. Which I probably won’t remember to do next time.
It’s all good, if you didn’t get it wronf, none would have corrected you and 99/100 that didn’t read the story wouldn’t know. You provided us 35 seconds of insight second hand.
Can someone tldr the whole thing? I’m too lazy to read the title, comments or article.
(No please don’t, I read it, I’m just here for cheap jokes and giggles)
Guy found an interesting rock in a gemstone market in Myanmar, thought it was one thing, made it pretty, found out not only was it something else, it was something never before seen in nature.
Naturally, now it lives in Los Angeles.
Thanks 😂
tldr, there was a man from Nantucket…
His junk was too big for a bucket…
I only read the above comment up to ‘tldr’ and skimmed the rest so the tldr is that the world’s rarest mineral is so rare that it’s only ever been found once!
Words?
i hope you learned your lesson
I HAVE LEARNED NOTHING!
Meirl
yeah me too. i love skimming
another way to rip off the rich I assume?
If someone starts with $50 billion, and goes down to a mere $35 billion, can you say they were ‘ripped off?’
I think rich people can get ripped off but I also can’t argue that $35B isn’t still insanely rich.
It is kinda pretty, in a super 1974 kind of way I guess…
It was a different time back then.
Corinthean everything back then. Leather, columns, baby food… everything.
I found one in yo momma last night.
Probably a jolly rancher
Oh nooooo
No this is a different speck
Surly we can just manufacture it with some fancy tech now?
FTA:
“mineralogists were able to relate the stone to synthetic BiSbO4 – bismuth antimonate – though with the formula Bi3+Sb5+O4, an arrangement never before found in nature.”
So we’ve already KINDA done it, just with less Bi+Sb.
It’s the only known natural occurrence of a mineral that (as it happens) has also been synthesized. Many minerals are available as exact synthetics. Diamond is an example.
So then why the fuck would anyone give a shit then. Who cares if we made it or some natural proccess made it? its the same shit (well maybe except some isotopes but thats mostly irrelevant).
I think these downvotes misunderstood what you were saying.
Because it’s clear to me what you meant was, “then why do people still care if their diamond is natural or synthetic?” Which is a fantastic question. If I ever bought a diamond, which I won’t because moissanite exists, but if I did, it would have to be synthetic.
Yep
Because that’s how learning works? If nobody ever gave a shit we’d never advance or learn anything.
I was more referring to what i assume would be an extreme price.
Because it is a rare 1 of 1 natural gemstone.
It seems like we don’t know how it was made in nature, so probably not. We can’t replicate the process until we figure out what it is
you didn’t read
