Lazurite

Item Description

Crystallized Lazurite is not terribly common in nature, and the finest quality and most well-known examples of the species are those from Afghanistan. These beautiful crystals have been mined for thousands of years, but weren't identified as a mineral species, as they were a component of the stone Lapis Lazuli. The earliest reference I can find for Lazurite dates back to 1869 according to mindat.org. This piece features a good sized, dodecahedron of dark blue Lazurite measuring 2.7 cm across on matrix. It should be noted that over the last several years, Lazurite was discredited as a valid mineral species, and was being classified as a sulfide-bearing variety of Hauyne. Thankfully in 2021, Lazurite was reinstated, so we can now resume labeling all of our Lazurite specimens accurately. It is incredibly difficult to find large, attractive, isolated crystals such as this from any world locality. The piece is not repaired, and the Lazurite crystal is undamaged. A nice example of this classic and fine quality material from Afghanistan. From the collection of Vasco Trancoso, a medical doctor and prominent mineral collector from near Lisbon, Portugal (https://www.mindat.org/user-11954.html). He assembled his mineral collection over the course of 60 years, and built a fine worldwide display collection that we recently purchased. This piece is pictured on mindat.org at https://www.mindat.org/photo-204341.html