More and more investors are looking for independent tangible assets outside traditional financial markets. This is precisely where high-quality gemstones offer decisive advantages.

Advantages of Investment-Grade Gemstones

• atural rarity
• globally tradable
• high value density
• portable and mobile
• no issuer risk
• long-term value stability
• attractive diversification
• intergenerational store of wealth

Unlike many other asset classes, natural gemstones cannot be reproduced or artificially multiplied. Every high-quality ruby, sapphire, or emerald is a unique natural product that was formed over millions of years.

Rubies are not the only gemstones with exceptional potential. Other coloured gemstones are also increasingly coming into focus among long-term investors.

One particularly compelling example is tanzanite. This rare gemstone is found worldwide at only one single location in Tanzania. The available supply is therefore naturally and strictly limited.

With every passing year, the remaining production volume decreases — while international interest continues to grow. It is precisely these market conditions that create attractive long-term prospects for sustainable value appreciation.

High-quality coloured gemstones combine emotional value with real substance. Many investors today consciously invest in rubies, sapphires, and emeralds in order to preserve wealth over the long term and pass it on to future generations.

While many asset classes are subject to significant fluctuations, the value of natural gemstones is based on something more fundamental:
their genuine rarity.

Rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and other high-quality gemstones are formed over millions of years — and that is precisely why they can preserve and increase value across generations.

The market for investment-grade gemstones is developing dynamically. Quality, origin, naturalness, and international certification are decisive factors for a successful investment.

THE NATURAL GEM supports you in carefully selecting high-quality gemstones with long-term potential — individually tailored to your personal wealth strategy.

Our Advisory Focus Areas

• buying rubies
• selecting investment-grade gemstones
• diversifying alternative investments
• using coloured gemstones as tangible assets
• preserving wealth across generations

Those who invest in rare coloured gemstones today are investing not only in beauty — but in lasting value for the future of their family.

In addition to the classic gemstones, there are also more opportunity-driven investments:

Tourmaline, Garnet, Topaz und Alexandrite

These gemstones are:

• Rare
• Less standardised in the market
• Potentially capable of stronger value appreciation

At the same time, the following also applies:
Higher potential also means higher risk.

Price development can fluctuate more strongly and requires a greater willingness to take on risk.

Gemstones as a Long-Term Store of Value

Gemstones are particularly suitable for investors who:

• Focus on long-term value preservation
• Wish to diversify their portfolio
• Prefer a physical tangible asset

What matters most is a well-founded selection – particularly with regard to quality, origin, and marketability.

Gemstones are not a short-term speculative object, but a strategic investment.

• For conservative investors: ruby, sapphire, emerald
• For opportunity-oriented investors: tourmaline, alexandrite
• For long-term strategies: natural gemstones with verified quality

The decisive factors are always the individual investment strategy and risk appetite.

The first attempts to produce beryl artificially, and thus emerald, date back to 1848. Emerald was first synthesised on a commercial scale in the 1930s by Jaeger and Espig at the IG Farben gemstone factory in Germany using a flux-growth process.

Depending on the method used, the starting materials include beryllium oxide, aluminium oxide, silicon oxide, and lithium chromate (the latter for colouring), as well as in some cases fragments of natural emeralds, all of which are melted together. As the material cools, new emerald crystals form around seed crystals.

Such synthetics can be distinguished from natural emeralds primarily by residues of flux within the stone and by their overall inclusion pattern.

Natural emerald always contains water, whereas synthetics produced by the flux-growth process are completely water-free. Emeralds created by the hydrothermal process do contain water, but with properties that differ from naturally enclosed water.

This makes the distinction between “natural” and “synthetic” emerald very easy to establish in the laboratory.

Rubies and sapphires, too, have been artificially produced in laboratories for almost 150 years.

The first synthetic corundum was created as early as 1877 by the French scientist Edmond Frémy. Shortly afterwards, the chemist Auguste Verneuil developed a process for producing corundum artificially on a larger scale.

With the process named after him, synthetic rubies and sapphires can be produced in almost all colours, from colourless to yellow, orange, green, blue, and red.

In addition to the Verneuil process, synthetic sapphire and ruby are also successfully produced using pulling methods and flux-growth methods. In all cases, the starting point is molten aluminium oxide, which then crystallises on so-called seed crystals. In the hydrothermal process, production also takes place under pressure.

Distinguishing synthetic corundum from natural corundum is nevertheless possible, as synthetic corundum shows curved growth lines, streaky colour zoning, gas bubbles, and inclusions of the fluxes used when viewed under the microscope.

Synthetic Diamonds

Since the mid-1950s, it has also been possible to produce diamonds synthetically, and even the latest generation of synthetic diamonds can be easily distinguished from natural diamonds by experts.

Whereas synthetic diamonds were initially used mainly in industrial contexts, artificial “lab-grown diamonds” are now increasingly marketed aggressively as affordable jewellery stones.

Are Synthetic Gemstones a Good Investment?

In short: no, in most cases they are not.

While synthetic gemstones can make sense for jewellery or technical applications, they lack one decisive factor for investment purposes: rarity.

Natural gemstones, by contrast, can increase in value over the long term, depending on quality, origin, and market conditions. If you wish to purchase gemstones as an investment, always buy natural, untreated gemstones of the highest possible quality, accompanied by certificates from internationally recognised institutes.

The most interesting stones are the “Big Three” coloured gemstones – ruby, sapphire, and emerald – which are not only value-stable but from which considerable long-term appreciation may also be expected.

1. Ruby

Rubies are the hardest mineral in the world after diamonds, but are much rarer than diamonds. It is the red variety of corundum and the most sought after rubies are “pigeon blood” red. As an investment they are interesting from a weight of 1 ct. upwards. Clear red stones of 5 carats and more are absolute rarities. Prices are expected to increase by an average of 5-8% per year.

2. Sapphire

Sapphires come in many different colors, the best known being blue sapphires. Deep blue sapphires have the highest commercial value and most come from the Kashmir region of India. Another sought-after variety is the Padparadscha sapphire, which has the orange-pink color of lotus blossoms caused by traces of iron and chromium in the mineral. As with rubies, stones of 1 carat or more are attractive as investments, but the current popularity of color variety also has a strong effect on price.

3. Emerald

Emerald is the green variety of beryl. Deep green, clear specimens are especially desirable. A special cut has been developed for emeralds: the so-called emerald cut looks like a rectangle with beveled corners when viewed from above. Again, clear stones with beautiful color saturation weighing 1 carat or more should be considered for an investment portfolio.

4.Tourmaline

Tourmalines come in all the colors of the rainbow. The name “Paraiba Tourmaline” was originally coined for all intense turquoise-blue gemstones from mines in the state of Paraiba, Brazil. Today, Tourmalines from Mozambique and Nigeria are also called “Paraiba” in gemological certificates if they meet the turquoise or blue color and copper and manganese concentrations. From an investor’s point of view, Tourmalines are particularly interesting if they have strong colors, are eye-clean and are 5 carats or larger in size. Paraiba Tourmaline is suitable for sizes as small as 1 carat.

5. Aquamarine

The name Aquamarine comes from Latin – “aqua marina” means “sea water”. Aquamarine is the blue variety of beryl – emerald is the green variety. “Santa Maria Aquamarines”, named after the mine of the same name, are deep blue and of particularly high quality. There is also the name “Santa Maria Africana” for stones from a mine in Mozambique, which are very similar to the Brazilian ones. The intense blue that is also sought after in gemstones is very rare in naturally occurring stones and is often produced for trade by firing the gemstones.

6. Alexandrite

Alexandrite was discovered in the 19th century and named after Tsar Alexander II. This mineral is a variety of Chrysoberyl and is the third hardest mineral in the world with a Mohs hardness of 8.5. A special feature of alexandrite is its ability to change color from red to blue depending on the quality of light. For investors, gems of 1 ct. or more are interesting.

7. Tanzanites

Tanzanites are mined in Tanzania in an area of only a few square kilometers. They are deep blue stones, and almost all stones available on the market have been fired to remove the brown and purple tones. Export of the stones – especially larger stones over 5 carats – is still heavily restricted, making them very popular with investors. Tanzanite is one of the few gemstones where heating does not result in a lower price.

8. Spinel

Since mineralogy has only been able to distinguish red spinel from ruby since the early 1800s, red spinel has only been recognized as an interesting gemstone since then. On the world market, bright red, clear stones are most in demand; pink stones are now also very popular. Red spinels are still cheaper than rubies, but they have a strong potential to increase in price because especially high quality stones weighing more than 10 ct are very rare.

9. Peridot

Peridot is a particularly pure variety of olivine. It occurs only in green, from light green to olive and dark green. Unlike other gemstones, peridot is not subjected to treatments such as irradiation or burning, and the green color is always natural. Compared to other green gemstones such as emeralds, peridot is still relatively inexpensive, but prices for high quality stones have been rising in recent years.

10. Colored “fancy” diamonds

The fact that diamonds come in different colors is often unknown to the layman. But at auctions, colored diamonds, also called fancy diamonds, are regularly among the most expensive stones. Pink, orange and blue diamonds fetch record prices in the millions – the most expensive gemstone ever sold is also a pink diamond, the so-called “Pink Star” (which changed hands for $71.2 billion in 2017). Colored diamonds are therefore an interesting investment from a size of 0.5 ct.

In the heart of Colombia, nestled in the lush greenery of the Andes, lie the Muzo mines – the emerald capital of the world. The mines are located along the Río Minero and have been in operation for centuries. Even before the arrival of the Spanish, indigenous peoples mined emeralds in the area. Professional mining of emeralds began in Muzo in the mid-16th century and the mines quickly became an important economic center.

In addition to Muzo, there are also rich emerald deposits in the nearby communities of Coscuez and Chivro. This is known as the “emerald belt”, which runs to the north and east of Bogota and where the ideal geological conditions for the formation of emeralds prevail.

Sri Lanka, once known as the British colony of “Ceylon”, has been known for centuries as the “Island of Gemstones”. The island’s rich gemstone deposits, especially the famous Ceylon sapphires, make Sri Lanka one of the world’s most important sources of top-quality gemstones.

The history of gemstone mining in Sri Lanka goes back a long way. Even in ancient writings, the island is praised for its wealth of gemstones. The deposits are located in the southwest of the country and the stones are mined exclusively by secondary extraction and by hand. This traditional mining method, which uses less invasive techniques and thus minimizes the impact on the environment, as well as ensuring fair working conditions, makes the gemstone mines in Sri Lanka a pioneer in terms of ethics and sustainability. As we at The Natural Gem are committed to offering only ESG-compliant gemstones, we have an exclusive cooperation with a mine operator in Sri Lanka that is in line with these values.

Ceylon sapphires are known for their unique color: a velvety blue that ranges from soft sky blue to saturated blue tones. But sapphires of other colors – including the orange-pink padparadscha, ruby and alexandrite – are also found in the region.

Kashmir in India

The legendary Kashmir sapphire comes from the Himalayan region in India. At the end of the 19th century, the site was uncovered by a landslide before the mines were exhausted after just a few years. Due to their rarity, sapphires from the high mountain mines in Kashmir are highly sought-after and expensive today.

Kashmir sapphires come in a wide variety of shades of blue and their special feature is their velvety, “sleepy” appearance. This is due to inclusions of rutile needles. Known as “The Pride of Kashmir”, this gemstone is one of the largest sapphires found in the Kashmir region. Its radiant blue color has earned it an almost mythical reputation.

Merelani Hills and Gilewy Hills in Tanzania

The question often arises as to whether gemstones purchased as an investment can also be used in

The gemstone tanzanite, named after its place of discovery, is only found in the East African state of Tanzania. The gemstones are found in the Merelani Hills in the Arusha region in the north-east of the country. Today, however, the Merelani mines are largely depleted and high-quality tanzanite is only mined in a small deposit in the nearby Gilewy Hills. Tanzanites from Pakistan are nowhere near the color and purity of gemstones from Africa.

Tanzanites from Tanzania are blue, violet or brown. Deep blue tanzanites are particularly valuable, although most stones on the market today are fired to enhance their color. Tanzanite has different colors depending on the viewing angle, which is referred to as “pleochroism” in specialist circles.

Gemstone mines in Austria

Mining has a long tradition in Austria, but primarily in the extraction of ores, industrial minerals and building materials. But precious stones are also found here.

The Habachtal valley in Salzburg with its emerald deposits is particularly noteworthy. The gemstones found there are not the typical emerald green, but are usually blackish or apple green. As emeralds from the Habach Valley also contain a comparatively large number of inclusions, commercial mining is not economically viable. Today, those interested can search for emeralds and other minerals on their own in the Leckbachrinne in the Habachtal valley.

Garnets can also be found on the Nockberge mountains in Carinthia and on the Granatkogel in Tyrol, while the largest amethyst deposit in Europe can be found in Maissau in Lower Austria. In the Lavanttal valley in Carinthia and in the Dunkelsteinerwald forest in Lower Austria, resourceful collectors can discover spinels and in the Hintereggengraben ditch in Carinthia there are aquamarines and various quartz stones.

Although there is no large-scale gemstone mining in Austria, the Alpine nation is home to a variety of geological treasures that are open to collectors, enthusiasts and other interested parties.

In addition to its aesthetic benefits, spinel also has a symbolic meaning and healing properties are attributed to it in gemstone healing. Black spinel is often used in mourning jewelry, while red specimens have been incorporated into the crown jewels of various royal houses as a symbol of dominion and power.

On a mental and spiritual level, spinel is said to have a positive influence on mood and vitality. It strengthens self-confidence, reduces stress and anxiety and gives assertiveness and stamina. On a physical level, it is said to support joints, muscles and bones, especially the spine and teeth.

Spinel is an attractive choice for expanding an existing gemstone portfolio. It is still far less expensive than ruby, but we predict that it has strong potential to catch up in the future. Pure, clear stones weighing over 10 carats are suitable for investment.

When buying a spinel, it is important to ensure that the gemstone is of the highest quality. The color should be as clear and bright as possible and not subsequently enhanced. As with all gemstones, untreated, natural-colored specimens are particularly valuable. The authenticity and quality of gemstones can be proven with a certificate from an independent gemmological laboratory.

We assume that spinel will experience a sharp rise in price over the next few years and is therefore a worthwhile investment.

If gemstones are part of the estate, there are some important points to consider: For example, as already mentioned, the value of the jewels must be determined for tax law reasons.

In addition, the proper storage and care of the gemstones must be taken into account. Although the former is extremely straightforward compared to other forms of investment, the correct and safe storage of the jewels should not be ignored. We recommend storing gemstones in a scratch- and shock-proof safe, bank or safe deposit box.

Gemstones are also easy to care for: Perfumes or creams cannot harm most specimens, the only thing we advise against is contact with household chemicals. The situation is different for gemstone jewelry that is worn on the skin and exposed to environmental influences. You can obtain special jewelry cleaning baths from your jeweler that will make your treasure shine again.

Last but not least, we recommend insuring investment-grade gemstones to protect yourself in the event of loss or theft and avoid financial losses. Thanks to these precautions, you will be able to enjoy the pieces you have inherited for a long time and benefit financially as well as carry on the history and values of your family.

Gemstones or jewelry decorated with gemstones are also popular gifts for wedding anniversaries. Each anniversary marks a milestone in the relationship and offers the opportunity to celebrate the love they share. Gemstones given for this purpose are not only a romantic gift, but also represent a profitable investment.

Each gemstone symbolizes a specific year of marriage or a specific anniversary:

1. Gold jewelry
2. Garnet
3. Pearls
4. Blue topaz
5. Sapphire
6. Amethyst
7. Onyx
8. Tourmaline
9. Lapis lazuli
10. Diamond (rose wedding)
11. Turquoise
12. Jade
13. Citrine
14. Opal
15. Ruby (glass wedding)
16. Peridot
17. Carnelian
18. Chrysoberyl cat’s eye
19. Aquamarine
20. Emerald
21. Iolite
22. Spinel
23. Imperial topaz
24. Tanzanite
25. Silver jewelry (silver wedding)
26. Pearls
27. Emerald
28. Ruby
29. Sapphire
30. Gold jewelry (golden wedding anniversary)
31. Alexandrite
32. Diamond
33. Sapphire
34. Ruby

The most important thing when choosing a gemstone for an engagement, wedding or anniversary ring is, of course, that you like it. The stone should “speak” to you, so to speak, its beauty should touch and delight you. The “right” gemstone is the one that makes your heart smile.

At The Natural Gem, you will not only find high-quality colored gemstones, we also offer the setting of these in exquisite pieces of jewelry. We design rings for special occasions according to your individual wishes and only use recycled gold because sustainability is important to us.

High Jewellery jewelry, which is manufactured to the highest standards, is also suitable as an investment. As a wearable investment, gemstone jewelry is not only an expression of beauty and luxury, but also combines emotional and material value.

As our exemplary calculation shows, gemstones increase in value considerably over the years – the performance is significantly better than that of gold, for example. An investment in this form of tangible asset not only secures your wealth, but also increases it. In times when interest-bearing products are not yielding any returns, gemstones are an excellent addition to an existing investment portfolio. They compensate for the negative effects of inflation and show a stable, positive performance.