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 natural crystal with a compact, stout form and a strong violet-blue body color. It shows the straight sides, flat faces, and lengthwise growth lines typical of tanzanite, along with natural internal fractures, color zoning, and a slightly uneven termination that make it clear this is a true mineral specimen rather than a cut gemstone. The color leans purple in some views and deeper blue in others, which gives the piece a lot of character despite its small size.

Tanzanite is often associated with insight, calm, and thoughtful transformation. Many people are drawn to it for its quiet, reflective feel and see it as a stone connected with intuition, clarity, and personal growth.

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