The world’s purest and second largest Russian Alexandrite gemstone was put on sale at Dubai International Jewellery Week for a cool $2 million.

The stone, which weighs 9.65 carats, has been certified by GemResearch Swisslab (GRS) and Swiss Foundation for the Research of Gemstones (SSEF).

The rare gem attracted a lot of attention during the four day shopping extravaganza, with a number of people expressing an interest in how it could be set into a unique ring or necklace design.

Thought to be named in honour of Tsar Alexander II, Alexandrite stones are only found in five countries - Russia, Brazil, India, Sri Lanka and Madagascar – but the Russian version is considered the rarest and shows off the most dramatic colour changes from blue to purple to red when placed under different lights.

Zaheer Ansari, the director of Noor Gems Japan and Zals, brought the stone to Dubai International Jewellery Week due to the increased demand from investors for rare coloured gemstones.

He is hoping to educate the show’s visitors at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) about the vast opportunities an investment in precious stones can offer.

"My family has been importing and exporting the most rare, precious gemstones for generations and there’s no safer and more lucrative means of investment I could recommend. Coloured stone prices always go up with time and within 30 years a value of unique alexandrites, paraibas, spinels can multiple by up to 50 times," he stated.

“Alexandrite is currently very popular, particularly among collectors in Japan, China, Russia and the US, and we believe Dubai International Jewellery Week allows us to show off this incredible stone to jewellery lovers as well as demonstrate to the GCC jewellery retailers that they can improve their businesses by expanding their collections beyond diamonds, emeralds, and rubies,” he added.-TradeArabia News Service