Tanzanite

Item Description

Here we have a lovely, classic sparkling little Tanzanite gem with a bright bluish-purple hue and a standard "Round Brilliant" cut. For a smaller gem, this one has pretty good saturation for the size, as they can be fairly pale when they're under 1/4 carat. Tanzanite is the blue/purple variety of the mineral Zoisite, first discovered in the Merelani Hills of Tanzania in 1968. Today the production goes deep into the earth on a large commercial scale where almost every good piece of Tanzanite can be recovered quickly, faceted at or near the mine site, and shipped throughout the world in finished condition. The supply of material has been dwindling in recent years, and the price of good Tanzanites has been on the rise due to the lack of fresh material coming out of the mines.