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Tanzanite - A Thousand Times Rarer than Diamond
Tanzanite was born over 500 million years ago when Mt. Kilimanjaro erupted in an area that was to become East Africa. The eruption caused a unique set of conditions to form deep within the earth - heat and pressure mixed with rare chemicals such as Vanadium to allow this exceptionally rare gem stone to form. These conditions remained constant for the entire 500 million years and Tanzanite grew.
It was first discovered by man in 1967 when an enormous grassfire swept the land below Kilimanjaro clear. As Tanzanite is a brownish color in its rough state, the crystals lying on the surface were never noticed. After the grassfire had burnt the land and heated the stones, they turned a bright, glittering violet-blue. A magical carpet of tiny gem stones glittering in the sunlight attracted the attention of some Maasai tribesmen. They were mesmerised by the stones and picked them up becoming the first ever humans to ever hold Tanzanite in their hands. Today thousands of fortunate people have the privelege to wear this beautiful gem stone but as more and more people learn about it and desire it, the more the source is mined and today we stand at a crossroads. The supply is running out. The top quality, deeply saturated Tanzanite gem stones traditionally constitute only 1% of all production are becoming extremely hard to get.
Tanzanite was named by Tiffany & Company (New York) and for the first ten years after its discovery Tiffany's had the exclusive right to this lovely gem stone. Today, after the liberalization of the Tanzanian economy, it is a free market. Being at the source we are in the enviable position to obtain this wonderful gem stone in its rough state, cut and offer it to the world.
See our Private Tanzanite Gem Stone Collection!
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Tanzanite is an exceptionally rare gem stone- estimated at a thousand times rarer than diamond. There is only one source for it in the world - on the slopes of the legendary Mt. Kilimanjaro. It has some unique properties:
Tanzanite is one of the only gem stones in the world that is "trichroic". What this means is that when white light passes through it breaks into 2 paths and creates 3 different colors - one axis will look violet, another reddish brown and the third a blue-violet. The picture below shows the same Tanzanite crystal from 3 different angles showing its amazing trichroism.
Tanzanite in its rough state is usually the color of the left hand image - a reddish brown color. Tanzanite is heated to 600 degrees centigrade in a gemological oven to bring out the classic blue violet of the stone.
The reddish pink color is still visible within Tanzanite though, even after heating, in different lights. During the daylight Tanzanite appears more blue, at night in incandescent artificial light you can once again see the red flashes through it as shown below.
This amazing quality is one of the many properties that make this rare and special gem stone so desired the world over.
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