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Mineral Specimens with Zoisite
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9.3 x 5.6 x 3.5 cm. Thulite is a pink variety of zoisite. It is still rather uncommon, and this piece has a large display face with crystalline thulite, particularly good on the right side. Ex. Academy of Natural Sciences Philadelphia Collection.
This fantastic, impressive crystal is so glassy and clean that you can EASILY read right through the whole thing, and it is brilliantly lustrous and colorful to boot! It is one of the finest-quality crystals of ANY SIZE that I have seen. It is so clear and clean that it shows off its gemminess in even minimal lighting, no backlighting required at all. Heated tanzanite is a uniform blue in color, and loses the color-change so characteristic of the natrual stone. Natural tanzanite, for the most part, is dichroic purple and blue and at least weakly trichroic brown/red on the c axis. In practice, most crystals are more brown than red, and even then the red is usually very weak indeed. Not so with this magnificent crystal which shows not only royal blue and purple colors along its horizontal axes, but a true red-maroon hue along the c-axis when backlit from below or from the side, angling into the c-axis. In person, you can see that this is in the very top percentile of color saturation, and is probably one of the most trichroic crystal specimens to be had. Sometimes the color change from blue to purple is not so dramatic but here it is vibrant and shocking, as much so as the change to red along the c-axis which is visible even in room lighting. This crystal weighs 34 grams (170 carats) and is quite gemmy. The entirety of the interior is gemmy....indicating a HUGE value of gem rough inside, if it were to be butchered and the cut stones sold. Ex. Ed David Collection
3.6 x 3.2 x 1.7 cm
This fantastic, impressive crystal is about 3.5 inches tall, nearly an inch thick, and brilliantly lustrous and colorful. It is one of the finest-preserved large crystals I have seen on the market, and is truly a "museum-grade" tanzanite because of the size, the natural color trichroism, and the gemminess which is easy to see with even minimal lighting. The termination is not only broad, but it is exquisitely formed and beveled as you can see! Heated tanzanite is a uniform blue in color, and loses the color-change so characteristic of the natrual stone. Natural tanzanite, for the most part, is dichroic purple and blue and at least weakly trichroic brown/red on the c axis. In practice, most crystals are more brown than red, and even then the red is usually very weak indeed. Not so with this magnificent crystal which shows not only royal blue and purple colors along its horizontal axes, but a true red-maroon hue along the c-axis when backlit from below or from the side, angling into the c-axis. It is very difficult to photograph, but the shots above gives you an idea of how rich these colors are (the purple and red hues, from side and long axes respectively). This crystal weighs 178 grams (890 carats) and is quite gemmy. It has surface veils as you can see, but the entirety of the interior is gemmy....indicating a HUGE value of gem rough inside, if it were to be butchered. 8.5 x 4 x 2 cm
This vibrant gem crystal is both lovely and interesting. The color, luster, and clarity are superb, and the termination is perfect. Add to that a very interesting gently-stepped growth on all the sides, and you have a killer thumbnail. The best indication of all, perhaps, of how very good it is is the fact that I took so many pics of it. Like a great book, I just couldn’t put it down. These greenish zoisites are actually somewhat rarer than the now-common "tanzanite"! 1.3 x .5 x .5 cm
A VERY lustrous, bright, and gemmy doublet of NATURAL UNHEATED tanzanite. It shows clear dichroic purple and blue tones, plus a bit of brown/red down the c-axis. 2 x 2 x 1 cm
1.9 x 1.4 x 1.3 cm. This superbly gemmy tanzanite crystal is strongly trichroic: it is blue seen from one side, purple from the other, and reddish purple from the two ends (though less extreme in this direction). The shift from purple to blue is extreme and very striking. Not all tanzanite gem crystals have this strong color shift, and the ones that do are valued more highly. Even without that, this is a very clean and gemmy crystal, terminated and complete all around. With the turmoil in Tanzania, tanzanites have become very hard to get. Weighs 7 grams. Ex. Jaime Bird Collection.
9 x 6 x 4 cm. A superb tanzanite specimen featuring a cluster of 2 large, glassy crystals. The crystals are gemmy and have naturally intense colors on all 3 axes; this specimen has not been heat treated first. They are joined in such a manner as to maximize the 3-dimensional geometry of the specimen, spacing the crystal masses from each other to give the piece a maximal presence. The two photos show the dramatic relational geometry between the two crystals in each axis. Note the color change shown when the crystals are viewed from different angles. Photos by Joseph Budd. Illustrated in Rocks & Minerals article on dichroic minerals.
2.3 x 0.8 x 0.7 cm. This is a gorgeous crystal with all 3 colors of the natural trichroic crystal present and strongly showing down different axes of view; riveting glassy luster; incredible clarity and transparency; and a full-sized thumbnail at 16.57 carats. Ex. Marilyn Dodge Collection.
2.2 x 1.9 x 1.0 cm. A really sharp matrix tanzanite, undamaged, gemmy, natural and unheated. Most tanzanite thumbnails are single crystals. The matrix is actually prehnite, but with a blue tint.
3.5 x 2.8 x 1.7 cm. This is a natural tanzanite with excellent blue, purple dichroism. The lustre is superbly glassy. It has also exceptionally well-formed faces and is complete all around, 360 degrees. Note also the gemminess. The matrix at the bottom perhaps acts to squelch the red c-axis color that might otherwise be present in natural tanzanites. For some reason that third color is not present here, but at the same time I am sure the crystal is not treated due to the shade of each hue (the purple would disappear and go blue in a treated crystal). Ex. Wally Mann Collection.
3.1 x 1.4 x 1.3 cm. A very gemmy, extremely colorful piece of this rare zoisite varietal which seems to turn up only very rarely, in small pockets, at this series of mines and pits famous for blue Tanzanite. This is an excellent piece with extremely glassy lustre, better than indicated in the photo, and so brilliant that it looks polished (but is not). Weight 86 carats.
2.3 x 1.4 x 0.5 cm. A sharp, very glassy, completely transparent gem crystal of the rare green-colored zoisite gem crystals that trickles out of this region in small pockets from time to time. Ex. Laura and Stevia Thompson Collection.
2.3 x 0.8 x 0.5 cm. A sharp, very glassy, completely transparent gem crystal of the rare green-colored zoisite gem crystals that trickles out of this region in small pockets from time to time. Ex. Laura and Stevia Thompson Collection.
2.1 x 1.3 x 0.7 cm. A brilliantly lustrous, intensely gemmy yellow zoisite with a unique yellow-green color that comes only rarely from these famous mines for blue tanzanite. The color on these, at their best, is really more like brazilianite than any other zoisite find you might have seen. Crystals of this material tend to be very glassy and lustrous, as this one. It is complete all around and has a superb termination. Ex. Laura and Stevia Thompson Collection.
11.2 x 2.8 x 1.5 cm. This gorgeous crystal is a very unusual; purple zoisite, a rare color for zoisite from anywhere but Tanzania where we call the varietal there tanzanite. In fact, I have never heard of it before from this locality. Very few came out apparently, and this was the best single crystal I saw in a small lot belonging to Herb Obodda at Tucson. It has great lustre, is mostly transparent and translucent in the remainder, and has a rich and uniform purple hue to it.
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Rob Lavinsky, rob@irocks.com
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share specimen![Zoisite (Var: Thulite) from Four Clovers mine (Lapis Nevada quarry; Walker property?), Southern Pinenut Mountains, Red Canyon District, Douglas Co., Nevada, USA [db_pics/mdpics/MD-202057a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-202057a.jpg)
![Zoisite (Var: Tanzanite) from Merelani Hills (Mererani), Lelatema Mts, Arusha Region, Tanzania [db_pics/mdpics/MD-20887a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-20887a.jpg)
![Zoisite (Var: Tanzanite) from Merelani Hills (Mererani), Lelatema Mts, Arusha Region, Tanzania [db_pics/mdpics/MD-20888a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-20888a.jpg)
![Zoisite from Alchuri (Alchori; Aschudi), Shigar Valley, Skardu District, Baltistan, Northern Areas, Pakistan [db_pics/mdpics/MD-20939a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-20939a.jpg)
![Zoisite (Var: Tanzanite) from Merelani Hills (Mererani), Lelatema Mts, Arusha Region, Tanzania [db_pics/mdpics/MD-21725a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-21725a.jpg)
![Zoisite (Var: Tanzanite) from Merelani Hills (Mererani), Lelatema Mts, Arusha Region, Tanzania [db_pics/mdpics/MD-217501a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-217501a.jpg)
![Zoisite (Var: Tanzanite) from Merelani Hills (Mererani), Lelatema Mts, Arusha Region, Tanzania [db_pics/mdpics/MD-221316a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-221316a.jpg)
![Zoisite (Var: Tanzanite) from Merelani Hills (Mererani), Lelatema Mts, Arusha Region, Tanzania [db_pics/mdpics/MD-221316b.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-221316b.jpg)
![Zoisite (Var: Tanzanite) from Merelani Hills (Mererani), Lelatema Mts, Arusha Region, Tanzania [db_pics/mdpics/MD-221335a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-221335a.jpg)
![Zoisite (Var: Tanzanite) from Merelani Hills (Mererani), Lelatema Mts, Arusha Region, Tanzania [db_pics/mdpics/MD-221335b.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-221335b.jpg)
![Zoisite (Var: Tanzanite) from Merelani Hills (Mererani), Lelatema Mts, Arusha Region, Tanzania [db_pics/mdpics/MD-221335c.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-221335c.jpg)
![Zoisite (Var: Tanzanite), Prehnite from C-Block Mine, Merelani Hills (Mererani), Lelatema Mts, Arusha Region, Tanzania [db_pics/mdpics/MD-224729a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-224729a.jpg)
![Zoisite (Var: Tanzanite) from Merelani Hills (Mererani), Lelatema Mts, Arusha Region, Tanzania [db_pics/mdpics/MD-224730a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-224730a.jpg)
![Zoisite (Var: Tanzanite) from Merelani Hills (Mererani), Lelatema Mts, Arusha Region, Tanzania [db_pics/mdpics/MD-224730b.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-224730b.jpg)
![Zoisite from Merelani Hills (Mererani), Lelatema Mts, Arusha Region, Tanzania [db_pics/mdpics/MD-224732a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-224732a.jpg)
![Zoisite from Merelani Hills (Mererani), Lelatema Mts, Arusha Region, Tanzania [db_pics/mdpics/MD-224732b.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-224732b.jpg)
![Zoisite from Alchuri (Alchori; Aschudi), Shigar Valley, Skardu District, Baltistan, Northern Areas, Pakistan [db_pics/mdpics/MD-224734a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-224734a.jpg)
![Zoisite from Alchuri (Alchori; Aschudi), Shigar Valley, Skardu District, Baltistan, Northern Areas, Pakistan [db_pics/mdpics/MD-224735a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-224735a.jpg)
![Zoisite from Merelani Hills (Mererani), Lelatema Mts, Arusha Region, Tanzania [db_pics/mdpics/MD-224736a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-224736a.jpg)
![Zoisite from Laghman (Lagman; Nuristan) Province, Afghanistan [db_pics/mdpics/MD-224737a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-224737a.jpg)