Tanzanites

Tanzanite, a relative newcomer in the colored gemstone world, was discovered in mineral rich soil of Eastern Africa in Tanzania. Tanzanite is part of the Zoisite mineral species. Tanzanite is named after the country where it is mined and to date, has been found nowhere else on earth. Tanzanite is one of the most popular blue-violet gemstones found today. It occurs in a variety of shapes and sizes.

An interesting fact about the discovery of tanzanite is that it was almost never found. The man who discovered this gem had spent 13 years searching Africa for new gem deposits. Eventually native Tanzanians showed him some blue stones they had found. It took him several more years to determine that the color had been caused by extreme heat either by a fire or volcanic eruption. Finally, it was a matter of determining that zoisite was the mineral and that it must be heat treated to obtain the wonderful colors of tanzanite.

All of the tanzanite on the market is heat treated. You would not get the beautiful blue-Violet or violet-Blue colors without this treatment. Tanzanite appears in overtones of purple. In smaller sizes, tanzanite tends to appear in lighter tones, and the lavender color is more common. While in larger sizes, tanzanite typically displays deeper, richer color. The violet-Blue (vBL) color is more expensive than the blue-Violet (blV) for two reasons. The violet-Blue, blue being more dominant color, occurs more rarely and when the stone is cut there is more material loss. The blue-Violet, violet being more dominant color, occurs more commonly and has less material loss when cut, so it is less expensive than the violet-Blue.

Tanzanite is at 6 on the Mohs scale of hardness and care should be exercised when handling or setting this gem material. Tanzanite should not be put in an ultrasonic cleaner or subjected to extreme temperature changes. It is wise to let only an experienced bench jeweler work on a piece of jewelry containing tanzanite gemstones. Jewelry cleaner on a soft cloth or cotton swab is more than sufficient to clean this gemstone if necessary.

PrincessJewelry.com has a wide selection of tanzanite rings, tanzanite earrings, tanzanite pendants, and tanzanite bracelets.