Tanzanite - Specimen

Mined from: Merelani Hills, Simanjiro District, Manyara Region, Tanzania

Description: Tanzanite has only been known since 1967. The most common telling is that a Maasai herder found violet-blue crystals weathering out of the ground in the Merelani Hills of northern Tanzania. He showed them to prospector Manuel d'Souza, who quickly registered mining claims, hoping he had found sapphire. Other accounts credit a Meru herdsman, Jumanne Mhero Ngoma, with the first find.

At first no one was sure what the crystals were. They turned out to be a blue gem variety of zoisite. Tiffany & Co. became the main distributor, named the gem after the country it came from, and launched it with a big publicity campaign in 1968.

All tanzanite comes from this one small area, where it is mined from folded metamorphic rocks. Hot fluids moving through faults reacted with the rock and grew the crystals, often in cavities or along quartz veins. The colour is linked to vanadium, and tanzanite shows strong pleochroism, looking blue, violet or other shades from different directions.

This one of a kind tanzanite specimen is a small but well-formed natural crystal with a distinct blue-violet color and a compact prismatic shape. The piece shows the straight-sided structure typical of tanzanite, with visible striations running lengthwise along the crystal faces. Its form is stout rather than elongated, giving it a strong crystal outline that still reads clearly even at a smaller size. The color shifts from medium violet-blue to deeper blue depending on angle and light, and the natural surface features give it the look collectors want in uncut crystal specimens.

Tanzanite is often associated with insight, inner calm, and personal transition. Many people are drawn to it during periods of change or reflection, and its violet-blue color gives it a steady, thoughtful presence that is often linked with intuition and clear communication.

Quantity: 1pc
With this product, you will get the actual stone in the photograph.