Would you show it off and put it in your favourite tiara?
Or perhaps give it to the Natural History Museum to share its unique wonder with the wider public?
Or would you lock it away and sneak admiring glances at it whenever you have the opportunity?
This is a conversation I have with my family.
Because we actually do have the only gemstone of its kind in the world.
It’s called Thortveitite, nick-named Deep Thorte. Named after my dad’s deep obsession with all things Hitch Hikers Guide (if you know, you know).
He came across this stone in a pile of uncut stones on a sorting table in a Thailand gem market.
It was my mum who spotted it first and pulled it out of the pile exclaiming how unusual looking it was - even before it was cut!
As my dad cut away the outer surface, it became even more apparent that this was not like anything he had seen before. In one direction, the stone turns yellow and in the other, purple.
As a Fellow and Tutor of the Gemmological Institute, he had seen a lot over his 50+ years, and this didn’t compare to any of them.
A sliver of the crystal was sent off to the Natural History Museum in London for further examination.
Lo and behold, it was proven to be the only stone of it’s type in the world.
Here’s the paper with all the scientific research if you’re interested!
It was an exciting find. One that we still don’t know what to do with 15 years later. So the debate continues…and the stone continues to be locked in a bank vault.
So what you would do with the only ‘diamond’ in the world?....
I’m really pushing for the tiara…