# Are Russian doll gemstones ever found? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 20, 2022, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-russian-doll-gemstones-ever-found/959842 "2022-02-20T22:08:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2022, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-russian-doll-gemstones-ever-found/959842/1 "2022-02-20T22:08:47Z")
Say an emerald inside a spinal inside an opal inside plain old limestone or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2022, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-russian-doll-gemstones-ever-found/959842/2 "2022-02-20T23:23:26Z")
Not necessarily as neatly stacked as Russian dolls, but it is possible for gemstones to be formed together and to intermingle or be completely enclosed as [inclusions](https://www.gemsociety.org/article/inclusions/) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2022, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-russian-doll-gemstones-ever-found/959842/3 "2022-02-20T23:24:50Z")
You can get garnets and rubies in diamonds. ([Google images](https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-m&channel=ts&biw=432&bih=782&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=Diamond+inclusion+garnet&oq=Diamond+inclusion+garnet&aqs=mobile-gws-lite..0l5)) ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2022, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-russian-doll-gemstones-ever-found/959842/4 "2022-02-20T23:39:35Z")
Inclusions. I like those photos. Beautiful stones, if a bit quirky. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2022, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-russian-doll-gemstones-ever-found/959842/5 "2022-02-21T11:57:24Z")
The geochemistry of garnet inclusions in olivine (peridot) inclusions in diamonds was actually the topic of a master’s degree of a guy I know. Or they were olivine inclusions in garnet in diamond, something like that. Anyhoo, they could help tell a great deal of the genesis of that particular diamond pipe (IIRC it was a Canadian one) But we’re talking smaller than a grain of sand, here. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2022, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-russian-doll-gemstones-ever-found/959842/6 "2022-02-21T19:41:08Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > The geochemistry of garnet inclusions in olivine (peridot) inclusions in diamonds The family-sized version of that would be awesome. A clear diamond with a pale green stone inside that has little blood spots here and there. I read about that [big-ass opal](https://apnews.com/article/oddities-business-lifestyle-alaska-australia-e308bc8c36ebb6df08ef11df88056e71) that just sold for $144,000, and I thought how weird it would be if they cut it years from now and found a million bucks worth of diamonds inside it. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2022, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-russian-doll-gemstones-ever-found/959842/7 "2022-02-21T22:15:32Z")
> [@GreysonCarlisle](#): > > I read about that [big-ass opal](https://apnews.com/article/oddities-business-lifestyle-alaska-australia-e308bc8c36ebb6df08ef11df88056e71) that just sold for $144,000, and I thought how weird it would be if they cut it years from now and found a million bucks worth of diamonds inside it. Yes, that _would_ be very weird, given that the two form under completely different conditions. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2022, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-russian-doll-gemstones-ever-found/959842/8 "2022-02-21T22:30:16Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Yes, that _would_ be very weird, given that the two form under completely different conditions. It’s not a requirement that the stones be the same age. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2022, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-russian-doll-gemstones-ever-found/959842/9 "2022-02-22T02:05:31Z")
Largely forgotten – and fictional to boot – the Pink Panther started out as large diamond with a pink inclusion that looked like a leaping panther. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2022, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-russian-doll-gemstones-ever-found/959842/10 "2022-02-22T06:55:12Z")
Opal is a secondary mineraloid that can occur with a wide range of host rocks, and does have inclusions (including [insects](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverly_the_Bug)) so can very possibly occur in a diamond-hosting volcanic. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2022, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-russian-doll-gemstones-ever-found/959842/11 "2022-02-22T15:15:09Z")
But if a diamond was in there, it would be a very unusual pure coincidence. You _could_ find a diamond in a Mazon Creek nodule, because there _could_ have been a diamond source somewhere within range to be washed into the water. But you probably won’t.