This beautiful blue-purple gemstone was discovered in the late 1960s and recognized worldwide as a new gemstone species. The name Tanzanite comes from the country where it was found: Tanzania. The world's only mining area for this attractive gemstone is in the Merelani Mountains, near Arusha. The site is barely more than 20 square kilometers in size and geologically unique. Experts believe that the likelihood of gem-quality tanzanites being found elsewhere elsewhere is negligible.

Tanzanite gets its distinctive blue color from traces of vanadium in the crystal structure. It is actually the purple-blue variant of the mineral zoisite. Tanzanite shows strong pleochroism. This means that the stone is purple when viewed from one direction and blue when rotated 90 degrees. Provided they are sharpened correctly, these two shades run together and you get the color palette that is so characteristic of tanzanite. This is what makes this mineral so unique and what sets it apart from other blue gemstones such as the sapphire. In addition, the strong transparency and the mostly complete lack of natural inclusions are responsible for its exclusive beauty. It is common and fully accepted that the color is enhanced by heating.

The so-called fancy tanzanite is a specialty. Fancy tanzanite is tanzanite in unusual colors, such as pink, yellow, green and orange. These gemstones are many times rarer than the blue ones and therefore highly sought after by collectors all over the world.

Tanzanite has significant potential for value appreciation as it is a gemstone that has become popular all over the world for its beauty. The demand for tanzanites is continuously growing. There is also only one source of origin and it is therefore not very common. This means you have to dig deeper and deeper to get to this coveted gemstone. That drives up the price of mining enormously. In addition to tanzanite, this is also an important reason for many other gemstones why they are becoming increasingly expensive.

Is your desired tanzanite not in our (online) collection? Please feel free to contact us. We are happy to help you find the perfect copy.