rare gems
Uncommon precious minerals
Rare gems are precious or semiprecious stones valued for their scarcity, beauty, and durability—diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and less common varieties like alexandrite or tanzanite.
The phrase extends figuratively to anything uncommon and highly prized: True friends are rare gems.
A person of exceptional quality might be called a rare gem.
- preciousHighly esteemed, greatly valued
- precious stonesRare, valued mineral specimens
- jewelsOrnamental precious stones
- diamondsPrecious crystallized carbon
- Hope DiamondLegendary cursed blue diamond
emeralds · rubies · sapphires · crown jewels · sparkle · facets · brilliant · carats · treasure · mines · deep earth · blood diamonds · black market · crown · dazzling · flawless · opals · clarity
- collectiblesbaseball cards, commemorative stamps, mementos, collectibles, collectible
- luxuryluxury, wealth, luxurious, opulent, opulence
rare gemscubic zirconia
Lab-made diamond simulant
rhinestones · costume jewelry · glass beads · paste jewelry · plastic gems
rare gemsnothing special
Lacking distinction or note
a dime a dozen · junk · trash
rare, rarer, rarest, rarely, rareness, rarity, rarify, rarefied, rarefaction