Natural Tanzanite from Merelani "Gem Quality" Rondelle Faceted 3mm - 14inch strand - 8 grams. This is a unique strand and what you see in the photos is exactly what you are buying.
This Tanzanite is Gem Quality "Semi Precious" and comes from Merelani Hills (Merelani), Tanzania. Our Tanzanite has a beautiful and vivid range of colors that is a Blue to bluish purple to bluish violet. Only a small amount of Tanzanite in the marketplace has a blue color that was produced naturally through the heat of metamorphism without any treatment by people. This Tanzanite has not been heated by humans, their colors are totally natural. Our Tanzanite as you see has fissures that naturally occur in the stones. This does not detract from its natural beauty.
Today, nearly all of the gems being sold as "Tanzanite" have a blue color that has been produced or enhanced by heating. When a gem has been treated in this way, the treatment should be disclosed by the seller because it has a significant effect on the stone's value. The Tanzanite has been cut and polished in a very small family factory, one of the few companies in which we trust our gemstones, for their professionalism and quality of work. Deciding how to cut Tanzanite is an exercise in skill, knowledge, and price estimation. In the cutting of Tanzanite, this small factory hire the most highly skilled craftmans who examine the rough and plan how it will be cut to maximize color or value. That is the step where value is gained or lost. It must be done carefully and with a high level of skill for every bead.
About Tanzanite:
Tanzanite is the blue and violet variety of the mineral zoisite (a calcium aluminium hydroxyl sorosilicate), caused by small amounts of vanadium, belonging to the epidote group and is noted for its remarkably strong Pleochroism (Pleochroism means “more colors”). Untreated tanzanite is a trichroic, meaning that light that enters this anisotropic crystal gets refracted on different paths, with different color absorption on each of the three optical axes. Our Tanzanite can be a distinct blue when viewed from one direction, and vary from blue to violet when viewed from other directions. The group of photos on this page shows a Tanzanite crystal viewed from one direction, If you are interested we can send you more photos from different angles.
The top color for Tanzanite is a vivid blue. Cutters must examine each piece of rough and determine if they can cut it in an orientation that will yield a finished stone with maximum face-up blue color. If that is possible, they then determine if changing the orientation of the cut will yield a larger stone of second-quality color that will sell for a higher price.
The size of a Tanzanite gem influences its color. If you have two beads of equal saturation, the larger stone will have a richer apparent color, because the distance that light travels through the stone has an influence on its perceived color.
Tanzanite is a beautiful gem. In addition to its beauty, it has some properties that require it to be given special care. Tanzanite is best suited for earrings, pendants, and necklaces that will not encounter abrasion and impact. It is less suited for use in a ring.
With all the gemstones we follow the most rigorous quality control. For us it is very important that the client knows the origin of the product, its composition with its purity and impurities that determine the quality. We have enclosed at the end of the description a quality table so you can judge for yourself on our Tanzanite beads.
How the Tanzanite is formed:
Significant tectonic plate activity and intense heat formed Mount Kilimanjaro, and in this process, the Mozambique Orogenic Belt (one of the most mineral-rich places on Earth), was formed as well. It is believed that it was during this process that rough Tanzanite was formed. The process is known as regional metamorphism, and can be explained as follows: when tectonic plates collide with one another, the igneous rocks (rocks formed through the cooling and solidification of magma / lava) of each tectonic plate are morphed into one another by means of extreme pressure. The rocks reach near melting-point, and when this happens, they produce beautiful crystal structures. In hotsell this process, gems are formed, essentially, from the coming together of two plates. Each of the two plates can contain a variety of different minerals, and because of this, combinations that are specific to one area, may occur. This explains why Tanzanite is only found in one area in the world. The morphing together of two tectonic plates in this specific area of Tanzania resulted in a particular mix that has not been discovered anywhere else in the world.
A little history of the Tanzanite:
The gemstone was given the name 'tanzanite' by Tiffany & Co. after Tanzania, the country in which it was discovered. The scientific name of "blue-violet zoisite" was not thought to be consumer friendly enough by Tiffany's marketing department, who introduced it to the market in 1968. In 2002, the American Gem Trade Association chose tanzanite as a December birthstone, the first change to their birthstone list since 1912.
Manuel de Souza, a Goan tailor and part-time gold prospector living in Arusha (Tanzania), found transparent fragments of blue and blue-purple gem crystals on a ridge near Mirerani, some 40 km (25 mi) southeast of Arusha. He assumed that the mineral was olivine (peridot) but, after soon realizing it was not, he concluded it was "dumortierite" (a blue non-gem mineral). Shortly thereafter, the stones were shown to John Saul, a Nairobi-based consulting geologist and gemstone wholesaler who was then mining aquamarine in the region around Mount Kenya. Saul, who later discovered the famous ruby deposits in the Tsavo area of Kenya, eliminated dumortierite and cordierite as possibilities, and sent samples to his father, Hyman Saul, vice president at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York. Hyman Saul brought the samples across the street to the Gemological Institute of America who correctly identified the new gem as a variety of the mineral zoisite. Correct identification was also made by mineralogists at Harvard University, the British Museum, and Heidelberg University, but the very first person to get the identification right was Ian McCloud, a Tanzanian government geologist based in Dodoma.
According to some metaphysicians:
Tanzanite has powerful spiritual energies that can establish a connection between your mind and the higher realms. For them, it is an excellent crystal for novices for the exploration of psychic powers, as it is very protective and allows the clairvoyant Brow Chakra to open gradually, preventing psychic impressions from becoming overwhelming. Worn as jewelry, Tanzanite not only stays within one's auric field and brings one's consciousness to a permanently higher state, but brings the positive self-awakening qualities to others who see its beauty.
Properties of our Tanzanite: {Ca2}{Al3}(Si2O7)(SiO4)O(OH)
Color: Blue, Violet blue to bluish violet to violet purple.
Luster: Vitreous, pearly on cleavage surfaces.
Hardness: 6 to 7 on Mohs scale.
Crystal System: Orthorhombic.
Transparency: Transparent.
Mineral Class: Zoisite (Calcium Aluminium silicate).
Tanzanite Grades:
The system works by breaking down Tanzanite color into 3 distinct components, Hue, (actual color sensation the human eye perceives) Tone (lightness to darkness of a stone) and Saturation (the most important component in the GIA color grading system) then compiling a 3 part grade).
As the quality grade is more complex than other lower quality gemstones, we attach the link to an article by Antony Zagoritis GIA Graduate Gemologist and ICA Ambassador to Kenya on Tanzanite Color Grading. This is the most reliable guide on how to differentiate correctly and not be fooled with the Tanzanite.
https://www.theraregemstonecompany.com/gemology-articles/tanzanite-color-grading-systems
Product code: Natural Tanzanite from Merelani "Gem Quality" Rondelle Faceted 3mm - hotsell 14inch strand - 8 grams