Sparkle With This Quiz on Famous Gemstones

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first people to walk on the moon. The astronauts departed from the Kennedy Space Center, located in Brevard County, Florida, so Florida adopted the moonstone as its official state gem to commemorate the local origins of the moon landing.

In 1947, the people of Burma presented Queen Elizabeth II with 96 rubies to honor her marriage to Prince Philip. In 1973, the queen commissioned London jewelry house Garrad to set the 96 rubies in a tiara. The rubies were set in the pattern of a Tudor rose, a symbol of Great Britain.

The Indigenous peoples of Colombia initially discovered the Chalk Emerald in a mine located in the Muzo region. In the 16th century, Spanish conquistadors took the emerald and sold it to rulers of the Mughal Empire in India. In the 20th century, the gem was purchased by American businessman Oscar Roy Chalk as a gift for his wife, and the emerald still bears their name today.

In 1924, the 40.23-carat Uncle Sam Diamond was discovered in Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas. This is the largest diamond ever discovered in the United States. The white diamond was discovered by W.O. Basham, who went by the nickname “Uncle Sam,” inspiring the gem’s moniker.

In 1918, Christie’s auctioned off a 205-carat diamond to raise money for the Red Cross. At the time, the “Red Cross diamond” fetched 10,000 British pounds — more than $780,000 today. The diamond, one of the largest in the world, has since been auctioned by Christie’s to benefit the Red Cross two additional times, most recently in 2022.

La Peregrina was discovered in the Gulf of Panama in the late 1500s and presented as a gift to King Philip II of Spain. At the time, it was the largest pearl ever found. Centuries later, it was gifted to movie star Elizabeth Taylor, who once had to pry it out of the mouth of her puppy after the dog tried to swallow it.

In 1849, upon the British annexation of the Indian state of Punjab, Queen Victoria acquired the Koh-i-Noor diamond and added it to her crown jewels. Since its acquisition, the Koh-i-Noor has been controversial: India has demanded its return multiple times, believing the stone was stolen from them. Though the diamond has yet to be returned, the British monarchy has limited its use in public events.

The 20.53-carat Hortensia Diamond is a famed pink diamond named after Queen Hortense of Holland, the stepdaughter of Napoleon Bonaparte. Even though the diamond is named for her, Hortense never wore it. Napoleon, however, fastened the diamond to the epaulet braid on his military uniform. Today, it’s on display at the Louvre in Paris.

At 563.35 carats, the Star of India is the largest sapphire in the world. Despite its name, it was discovered about 300 years ago in Sri Lanka. The sapphire is famous for the star-shaped asterism in the stone's center. It is currently housed at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, and experts estimate that the stone is more than 2 billion years old.

The largest diamond ever found is the Cullinan Diamond, discovered in Pretoria in modern-day South Africa in 1905. At the time of its discovery, the diamond weighed 3,106 metric carats. It was eventually cut into nine smaller pieces labeled with Roman numerals. These diamonds are now part of the British crown jewels.

In 1962, Audrey Hepburn wore a large yellow diamond necklace in promotional posters for her film “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” Given the movie's title, the diamond she wore was quite appropriate — the gem is known as the “Tiffany diamond.” It is owned by the luxury jewelry design company Tiffany & Co., and the necklace is permanently displayed at Tiffany’s flagship store on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue.

The 1997 film “Titanic” begins with modern-day divers searching the wreckage of the Titanic for a fictional diamond known as the “Heart of the Ocean.” Though the diamond is an invention of the film, it’s based on a real gemstone worn by a Titanic survivor named Kate Phillips. The sapphire was a gift from her husband, Henry Morely, who died when the Titanic sank.

In 1885, Russian Tsar Nicholas III commissioned St. Petersburg-based jewelry company Fabergé to create a golden egg containing a golden hen and a replica crown made of diamonds. He presented it as an Easter gift to his wife, Maria, who loved it so much that the tsar established a standing order with Fabergé to create more eggs for other members of his family. Fifty Fabergé eggs were made in total.

In 1955, American movie star Grace Kelly met Prince Rainier III of Monaco while attending the Cannes Film Festival. In 1956, the couple announced their engagement and the prince presented Kelly with a stunning 10.48-carat engagement ring. The ring was so flashy that Kelly wore it for her role as a wealthy socialite in the 1956 film “High Society.”

The Hope Diamond is famous for its distinctive blue color, resulting from trace amounts of the element boron in the stone. After its discovery in India, the diamond was passed into the possession of the French monarchy in 1668. Over the years, it has been stolen and rediscovered several times; today, the gem is found at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.