Are untreated gemstones rare?

Yes, high-quality, untreated gemstones are incredibly rare, and they make up a very small share of what the global gemstone market moves every year. Actually, finding a raw, earth-mined stone that shows strong natural colour saturation, plus clear optics without any human intervention in the process, well, that feels like a geological anomaly.

Since nature seldom creates visually perfect gems, the jewellery trade leans heavily on enhancement methods such as heat, irradiation, or oiling to make stones more commercially appealing. A gem that stays genuinely unenhanced and already has lively colour plus high clarity is usually labelled a “collector’s stone”. Because of this, these unaltered pieces can attract exponential price premiums, and they typically need confirmation by independent gemmological laboratories, so buyers can verify the untreated status.