Vanishing tanzanite stone - the best investment

Tanzanite is the rarest gemstone. Its story began 50 years ago, when a warrior of the African Maasai tribe in Tanzania brought to the office of a local prospector a transparent purple stone weighing 10,000 carats, found at the foot of Kilimanjaro. At first, this mineral was mistaken for glass, then for sapphire and sent to the Tiffani & Co jewelry house in the USA. The examination carried out there showed that this previously unknown crystal is a blue variety of the mineral zoisite, also mined in Africa. In honor of the country in which it was discovered, the stone was named tanzanite.

For 2 years, Tiffani & Co introduced the whole world to this beautiful gem, creating amazing jewelry from it. It was advertised by Elizabeth Taylor, wearing a necklace with

tanzanites for the cover of a magazine, the color of the crystals was compared to the color of her eyes. After that, it attracted the attention of high society and increased significantly in price. Moreover, as it turned out later, the African tanzanite deposit is the only one on Earth, and its reserves will dry up in 10-15 years. This news made the mineral even more in demand and expensive. The wholesale price for tanzanite over the past 20 years has varied from $15 to $1,000 per carat. In terms of price, it has caught up with sapphire. In the late 90s, it was named the best-selling colored gemstone and is today the elite and most fashionable.

Physical and chemical properties

Tanzanite is a type of cyosite, that is, the chemical composition of the mineral is a silicate of calcium and aluminum. Blue, brown, purple, pink and tan specimens are found in nature. When heated to high temperatures, the blue of the first ones becomes deeper, while all the others turn blue. When illuminated with electric lamps, the stone reveals an amethyst-violet hue.

Physico-chemical characteristics of tanzanite

By chemical nature, tanzanite is a silicate.
It is also known as blue zoisite. And its color scheme, made in blue and purple tones, is associated with the presence of chromium and vanadium impurities. Tanzanite crystals are prismatic in shape, transparent with a glassy luster and perfect cleavage, fragile. Hardness on the Mohs scale is 6.5-7.0, specific gravity 3.1-3.5 g/cm3. Some samples have an “Alexandrite” effect (change color when the lighting changes). Thus, in artificial light, violet tones are more pronounced, and in daylight, blue tones are more pronounced. There are also crystals with a cat's eye effect. The most unique shade of tanzanite is blue-lavender, and the most prized stones are those colored deep blue. Heat treatment removes brown and yellow tones and gives tanzanite a blue color. In addition, green tanzanites are found, with a combination of light yellow and gray-green tints.

Colors and varieties

Tanzanite stone

Blue tanzanites are the most prized among jewelers. They can be lighter, darker or violet. But there are very few such stones, since they are born only on the surface of the earth, where they are warmed by the sun for a long time.

In the depths, tanzanites are found predominantly in brown shades, less often pink, greenish, yellowish or colorless. To obtain blue jewelry samples from such stones, they are preheated.

Impurities of granite and ilmenite contribute to the appearance of the “cat's eye” effect.

Which zodiac sign is tanzanite stone suitable as a talisman?

Blue tanzanite stone, which includes shades of ultramarine, belongs to the water element. Therefore, jewelry will always help Pisces, Scorpios and Cancers in business and relationships.

Talismans will give quick-tempered Aries calmness, prudence, and protect them from misfortunes. The zodiac prescribes the elements of Earth to receive the greatest benefit from brown crystals. They will provide the signs with the energy they need.

The mineral shows a neutral attitude towards all other constellations, as evidenced by the horoscope.

Ring with tanzanite and diamonds

Mineral deposits

Tanzanite crystal

Blue cyosite is mined in only one place on the planet - in the very province of Arusha in Tanzania, which is located at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro.

The deposit is called "Merelani". It is divided into four sectors, designated by the Latin letters A, B, C, D, which are developed by various mining companies, but 60% of all production is carried out by Tanzanite One Group.

Mineral reserves are modest. At the moment, decent volumes are supplied to the market, but according to preliminary calculations by scientists, they will dry up no later than in 2 decades. Therefore, tanzanite is considered a rare and very valuable stone.

The magical properties of tanzanite

Ring with tanzanite stone

The magic of tanzanite does not have a single direction. Its action is comprehensive.

A blue pebble from Africa can improve a person himself, making his character better, his nerves stronger, and his mind sharper, adding wisdom, prudence, self-confidence, determination and organization.

And also improve the life of its owner, namely:

• Help him decide on the direction of development, identify hitherto hidden abilities, win the respect of others, realize himself as a person, achieve professional heights and financial independence.
• Strengthen his intuition, which will help him avoid dangers and make the right decision.
• If a person has psychic inclinations, then tanzanite will awaken his gift. The “Chosen One” will be able to predict events, sense lies and hypocrisy. Accomplished seers use the stone to see the future more clearly and communicate more easily with the world of spirits.
• Create a warm atmosphere around the owner in which peace, understanding and good attitude reign. This property of the stone will be useful not only in the family circle, but also in the work field, because in the absence of conflicts in the team, productivity increases, work gets done faster and brings pleasure.
• Attract cash flow. Of course, its owner will have to make efforts to achieve financial well-being, but all of them will pay off with interest.

Tanzanite is considered a symbol of success, luxury and wealth.

• Attract love. The stone increases the attractiveness of the owner in the eyes of the opposite sex and helps to feel “your” person. Relationships created with the help of a blue gem, as a rule, become “for life”.
• Create, strengthen and preserve a family. Family relationships will become warmer, feelings will flare up with renewed vigor, conflicts will disappear, and every day spent together will bring only joy to the spouses. Blue cyosite will also protect against betrayal and help you endure separation more easily.

Tanzanite is a family talisman. Therefore, mystics believe that jewelry with stones will be an excellent gift for spouses on their wedding anniversary.

All the magical properties of the stone have not yet been studied, but those that have been determined over half a century are quite enough to elevate tanzanite to the category of “powerful gems.”

Medicinal properties

Tanzanite

Although the stone is relatively young (discovered only half a century ago), lithotherapists have already studied its healing properties. They are sure that tanzanite:

• Relaxes the nervous system, returns a person to an adequate psychological state, relieves insomnia and anxiety.
• Relieves almost all types of headaches, including migraines, for which you need to peer into the stone for some time, while trying to plunge into its depth.
• Contemplating the blue of tanzanite also helps to distance yourself from what is happening and drive away obsessive thoughts. Its gentle effect relieves tension on the optic nerve, removes the feeling of sand in the eyes and helps restore vision.
• Tanzanite creates an invisible cocoon around a person, repelling the attacks of viruses during the cold season.
• It also strengthens the immune system, thanks to which its owner gets sick less and recovers faster.
• It also treats diseases of the skeletal system. It relieves pain in the spine and joints, returns a person’s ability to move, cures arthritis, osteochondrosis, and so on. It is necessary to apply the stone to problem areas and massage them in a circular motion.

Tanzanite therapy is most effective in the treatment of the musculoskeletal system, coupled with traditional medicine, massages and exercise. The stone will enhance the effect of the latter, which will lead to a speedy improvement in the patient’s condition.

• Tanzanite clears the skin, including teenage acne, and cures many dermatological diseases. If you have such problems, both wearing a stone and washing with water infused with it will help.

Attention!

The stone does not tolerate prolonged exposure to conditions of high humidity, especially in water. Therefore, tinctures should be made by immersing the gem in water for no more than 60 minutes - this is quite enough.

• The mineral brings a person out of a state of “panic attack” - it calms the heartbeat, normalizes blood pressure, and relieves tension in the nervous system. To do this, the pebble should be held in your hand when the attack begins.
• The stone relieves fatigue, restores strength and energy, thanks to which its owner regains efficiency and good mood.
• Tanzanite also rejuvenates: smoothes the face, refreshes its color, removes wrinkles, circles and bags under the eyes, for which you should lightly move the mineral over problem areas for 5-10 minutes in the morning and evening. Just do this after washing thoroughly. There should be no cosmetics, creams, lotions, etc. left on the skin.

Talismans and amulets

Earrings with tanzanites

History has not preserved evidence of the use of tanzanite in ancient times as talismans and amulets. However, modern esotericists are confident in the stone’s ability to improve the life of its owner.

They believe that tanzanite is needed:

1. For married couples to strengthen marriage bonds, maintain fidelity and improve the well-being of the family.
2. To all representatives of the fair sex to increase their attractiveness and enhance their “feminine charms”.
3. For young people free from relationships to find a soul mate, and for established couples to move to a new level - concluding a marriage or, conversely, breaking a painful relationship.
4. For creative individuals to “connect” to an inexhaustible source of inspiration and discover new talents.
5. For those who are undecided in life to find their own purpose. And also for those who are at a crossroads and don’t know what to do. If you ask tanzanite for advice, the solution will come naturally.
6. Absolutely everything to improve your financial situation.

Attention!

Tanzanite does not tolerate betrayal and betrayal. He can even punish the traitor - send him illnesses, losses and failures.

Tanzanite also does not tolerate lazy people. Purchasing a talisman does not guarantee that wealth will fall from heaven to the thirsty. However, if a person strives for a goal and makes every effort, then the stone will help him. All human attempts will be crowned with success, and money will flow like a river.

As for the compatibility of the blue gem with names, there are no restrictions. The only ones who are singled out by the stone are the Galinas. It gives them comprehensive protection, helps them win everyone’s attention and respect, and also helps them avoid making mistakes in choosing a life partner.

Who is it suitable for?

To be honest, for those who are able to buy or receive this blue miracle as a gift.

Zodiac signs

Tanzanite is the December birthstone (along with blue topaz).

As for the rest, astrologers are undecided. Who can say what the newborn baby will be like? So much is still unknown about our “baby”.

It is unknown who tanzanite is suitable for. However, some astrologers believe that the stone is suitable for Water signs. These are Scorpios, Pisces, Cancers.

Esotericists suggest that (for now) the gem is suitable for all signs of the Zodiac.

Is Tanzanite Right for You?

Not really

Element

Air

Planets

Saturn

Energy

Jan

Compatibility with other stones

Tanzanite ring

Tanzanite is a bright externally and energetically strong stone. He doesn't like being around other gems. The only undoubted “friend of the African treasure”, shading the blue and enhancing its power, is the diamond. Jewelers often combine them in jewelry.

In rare cases, tanzanite may be paired with amethyst or citrine - such a tandem will turn the jewelry into a love talisman, as well as with ruby ​​or topaz, which will help you quickly achieve professional heights.

Products and jewelry made of tanzanite

Tanzanite stone ring

Finding real tanzanite in mass sale is almost impossible. Jewelry with it is sold only by large and well-known jewelry houses, such as Tiffany, Sokolov and others. On their counters there is a fairly wide selection of jewelry with an insert of blue gems - these include rings, earrings, bracelets, and necklaces.

Prices are always high; you will have to pay a lot for endless blue in a gold frame, for example:

• For earrings – 200-1300 dollars.
• For rings – 190-1300 dollars.
• For a pendant - 200-600 dollars.
• For a bracelet (usually with one stone) – about $1000.

Tanzanite earrings
Tanzanites are extremely rarely set in silver. Such jewelry can only be purchased from the authors, but they will also be quite expensive:

• Figured ring with 3 small stones – $75-100.
• Openwork set of ring and earrings with nanostones – $130.

Such jewelry usually uses lower quality, lighter stones or their crumbs.

How to wear it correctly?

Ring tanzanite and opal

Tanzanite is part of exclusively high-end precious metal jewelry. This is explained by its high cost, which consists of the rarity of the stone and the complexity of its processing. It is very soft, so one wrong move by the jeweler can lead to damage to the sample.

Jewelry with “African treasure” is not suitable for everyday wear. They will perfectly complement a business or evening look. Earrings with small inserts will add romance to a young girl, and an exquisite pendant will add glamor to a socialite.

You should not combine tanzanite jewelry with other bright wardrobe items, be it a blouse, bag or shoes. They will only distract attention from the luxury of the stone and turn the toilet into bad taste.

The perfect play of blue highlights of the gem sets off blue eyes, and also goes best with a black evening dress and heels.

Decorations

On the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the fossil, Reed Krakoff, in collaboration with Tiffany, presented two “Paper Flower” collections, which included products with tanzanites. Long earrings with blue stones look like precious irises.

Chopard's latest Red Carpet collection, unveiled at Cannes, features a bejeweled choker and six rows of tanzanite beads.

Lebanese jeweler Selim Mouzannar began working with the mineral back in 1994, and already in 2005 he created an entire collection called “One Thousand and One Nights,” inspired by a gem native to the dark continent. Inspired by the geometry of Ottoman architecture, the designs are carved from gemstones that sometimes have 58 facets.

Considering the fragility of minerals, jewelers try to create protective mechanisms in their products. Thus, New York designer Mimi So created a necklace with 120 tanzanite beads, each collected separately and formed into a tassel, at the top of which are 18-karat gold flowers with diamonds and emeralds.

Taiwanese designer Anna Gu secured the 102.15-carat stone to the brooch with invisible blind settings - an elegant and secure way to set the inlay, so that buyers see only a scattering of colors of the precious minerals.

Tanzanite pioneers Tiffany created a necklace centered around the 178.07-carat gem to celebrate the company's 175th anniversary. The rectangular stone was crowned with 75.77 carats of diamonds.

The Kilimanjaro Queen Tiara is one of the most famous faceted tanzanites. 242 carats surrounded by 803 rare green tsavorite garnets and 913 diamonds crown the avant-garde tiara. The exotic piece is pieced together in 18k white gold. Currently in the private collection of Michael Scott, the first president of Apple.

A well-known admirer of precious items with tanzanites, Catherine Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, was spotted several times wearing sets with blue stones.

Today, almost all tanzanites on the market have been given or enhanced their blue color by exposure to high temperatures. The seller must warn buyers about this treatment, as it significantly affects the final price of the stone product.

A small number of gems with a natural blue color resulting from metamorphism are highly prized in the stone and jewelry market. Despite the high cost, each copy finds its buyer.

As with other gemstones, a large number of tanzanites on the market are small in size (less than 5 carats). Stones weighing more than 50 carats are extremely rare.

Small gems are used as inlays in jewelry. Large stones with valuable color are more often purchased by collectors, museums or investors. Some are used to make custom jewelry.

The size of the mineral affects its color. When looking at two stones of the same saturation, the larger specimen will have a richer hue due to the light passing through the gem, which affects the visual perception of the mineral.

Artificial tanzanite

Scientists have not learned how to create tanzanite artificially, since the crystals obtained in laboratories are noticeably different in both appearance and properties from natural ones.

However, deep blue gemstones are quite rare, since in nature they are formed only on the surface when the stone is exposed to high temperatures.

In the depths of the earth, brown, brown or even colorless stones are born, which jewelers refine by heating them to a temperature of 500-600 degrees. As a result, the gems turn blue.

Refined tanzanites are not considered fake, as they have the same physical, magical and healing properties, but they are a little cheaper.

Preventive measures

Of course, prevention is a more interesting option to avoid serious health problems. Here, as the ENT doctor notes, there should be a whole range of measures, which includes:

• a trip to the sea at least once a year;
• good sleep;
• establishing a drinking regime so that the ENT organs do not experience drought;
• treatment of caries;
• saturating the body with vitamin D under reasonable conditions;
• proper and balanced nutrition without fast food.

“You should also monitor that there are no inflammatory processes in the ENT organs and systems. This is especially important in terms of the nasal mucosa and paranasal sinuses. Postnasal drip, rhinosinusitis, when mucus flows down the back of the throat, affects the tonsils, as they are also affected. So, good immunity in the ENT organs will help prevent the development of tonsillitis stones,” warns Vladimir Zaitsev.

How to distinguish an original from a fake

Products with natural tanzanite

Tanzanite is a true African treasure. It is used exclusively to create jewelry and is incredibly expensive. Therefore, counterfeits of tanzanite are quite common.

The following imitations can be sold under the guise of tanzanite:

1. Synthetic sapphires.
2. Glass pieces covered with a thin layer of natural mineral.
3. Painted glass.

It is difficult to identify a fake, but it is possible if you know about the following properties of the stone:

• Pleochroism, that is, the ability to change its shade under different lighting and viewing angles. The real “treasure of Africa” has this property very strongly expressed. In daylight the shade will be one, in artificial light it will be different. And when turned, the stone will shimmer from pale to bright blue, purple, pink or even brown.
• Expensive. Natural blue crystals are rare, and their supplies are depleted very quickly, so natural tanzanite is always expensive. The price for refined gems is slightly lower, but not much.
• Color depth. Stones born in nature and even refined have a beautiful, deep and calm color. Excessively bright, flashy colors are a sign of painted glass.
• Change in color of crystal edges in water. When a real gem is immersed in water, its edges will become lighter. This does not happen with imitations.

When purchasing such expensive jewelry, you should always ask for a certificate for the stone. It’s even better to make a purchase in the company of a familiar jeweler.

Historical reference

Tanzanite is a unique stone, because it can be called our “contemporary”. Unlike emeralds, rubies and a number of other jewelry that were discovered several thousand years ago, this unique specimen appeared before people only in 1967. The first to see something in the inconspicuous gray pebble was Manuel De Souza, a Portuguese who in the summer went to Tanzania to look for rubies in the company of Maasai hunters.

The hunters spent a couple of weeks searching for the jewelry and were rewarded for their perseverance. Near Kilimanjaro they found interesting purple stones. At first the men thought that they were seeing sapphires. Already in the course of further research, scientists established that this was a new mineral, which differed not only in color, but also in physical properties and softness.

Today this unique stone is known all over the world, but few people realize that it got its name thanks to the legendary Tiffany brand. Representatives of this jewelry company proposed to name the gem in honor of the place where it was found.

How to care for stone

Tanzanite stone

Although tanzanite has a good hardness on the Mohs scale (6.5-7), among mineralogists it is considered a soft mineral, since it is easily divided into plates and can even crumble from the wrong sudden movement.

The stone is fragile, it must be treated with care, and every owner should know this.

Caring for tanzanite involves following the following rules:

• Jewelry with stones should not be dropped or hit, or subjected to strong friction.
• Such products should be stored separately from other jewelry in a personal case with soft walls.
• Overheating, temperature changes, being in an acidic environment and excessive humidity have a detrimental effect on the stone, that is, you should not take tanzanite with you to a bathhouse or sauna, or wear it while cleaning, washing or doing other housework.
• You should wear jewelry with the “blue beauty” only after makeup and perfume have been applied, in order to avoid accidental contact of these products with the stone.
• Tanzanite is cleaned as rarely as possible, for which it is quickly and “gently”, that is, without the use of aggressive chemicals and abrasives, washed and wiped dry with a suede cloth. For severe stains, it is permissible to use a small amount of baby soap.

Care

The stone does not like temperature changes (no sauna or bath) and acidic environment. Requires caution when using decorative cosmetics (no contact with chemicals). Tanzanite jewelry should be removed when taking a bath or shower.

It is best to care for the mineral using a solution of mild soap (for children). Do not use abrasives or aggressive detergents. You need to wipe the mineral with a suede cloth and do it very carefully.

It is better to have a separate box for storing jewelry so as not to scratch or damage the surface of the stone with other jewelry.