Lucite Cube // Osmium

Even though the title of rarest stable, naturally occurring metal on earth is a debated topic among geologists, Osmium always gets top contender status with some estimates running at just one part in 20 billion of the earth's crust being this rare element. If mining output is any indication consider that only 500 of these beads - enough to fill a bucket - are pulled out of the earth worldwide annually!

For this rarity, and the fact that it's a beautiful blue-tinged precious metal to boot, one would think that elite jewelry brands like Cartier and Bulgari would be rushing to outdo one another with osmium trinkets for the rich. But nature has thrown a curve ball in that it's practically impossible to work with. Melting osmium takes Herculean efforts, hammering it causes cracks and, if that wasn't enough, the damn thing is highly poisonous when finely powdered making grinding and polishing a task fit only for those with a death wish!

This acrylic cube houses a one gram bead made of 99.95% pure osmium metal. With it you can now lay claim to owning the rarest element in the universe and one which comes with the bonus of being far undervalued relative to this rarity. An incomparable keepsake for absolutely anyone who loves science!