A stunning, totally gemmy crystal weighing in at 36.5cts of pure gem rough quality cutting material. This crystal is razor sharp and glassy. Interestingly, it is composed of two crystals in parallel growth, and so the termination is more appealing than the typical "singles" you might expect in a thumbnail example of this species.The blue color is a normal color saturation, and the purple is richer than usual , especially in a smaller crystal size. The piece exhibits a third color on the vertical axis, more pink-lavender than the deep red common in larger crystals. Still, this third color is present and marks it as natural and unheated. Joe Budd Photos

Few tanzanites show as much mixing of colors as this crystal does. By this , I refer to the fact that natural tanzanite is trichroic, viewed as blue or purple or red down each of the three axes of display. However, most tanzanites show discrete color, in which you must rotate the crystal a full 90 degrees to see the next color in line. This particular piece, which is also fabulously glassy and has a fat and geometric termination as a bonus, shows hints of its c-axis red color when viewed from the other angles. It is a squat, fat crystal at 50 grams, or 246.0cts . This came out in October of 2010. Because of the extreme color saturation, combined with high lustre, it is very difficult for the camera to focus on the core of the specimen so that you can see how gemmy it is , in person. Instead the camera is trying to focus on both the front and back faces at the same time, leading one to think this is transparent to translucent when in fact it is more like tranparency blue glass in person. The camera sees reflections off the clear back faces, bouncing back at the lens. However, it is actually almost entirely a true transparent crystal with more gemminess. The gem rough value of the specimen, in fact, is sizeable. I got it as a bargain, not cleaned fully, and hence the price per gram of this crystal with its intrinsic, high quality cutting rough, is a bit lower than normally would be the case if the previous owners had realized its potential to clean up. Do not let the relatively "reasonable" price fool you . I just got lucky - I could not easily replace this today, for any cost of my own in the near price range to what we are selling it for. Joe Budd Photos

A stunning, unusually elongated and vertical tanzanite crystal showing vivid gemminess , especially when stood up showing the purple side forward. For whatever reasons, I cannot explain, nearly all tanzanite crystals present at their best with the blue face forward, and the purple axis turned 90 degrees from display. It is just the way of things. But this piece really shows both the best drama and the best gemminess, with the purple facing the viewer. The blue color is equally intense, though, and no slouch on its own. When a light is shined up along the c-axis, bottom to top, the piece glows with a brilliant red-magenta color that is indicative of its natural coloration without treatment (treatment for the gem trade disrupts the third, red color from showing). What is amazing is that, despite the height, the light really transmits through nicely along the long c-axis and makes the whole piece glow, instead of just the tip. The crystal is pristine and complete all around, although it has a "slip contact" where one surface is rough in a few places, only on the very right hand edge, due to contact where it grew against another crystal. The piece is obviously very 3-dimensional as you can see, and reminds me of Transco tower in Houston. So overall this is a stunningly intense, deep blue crystal that is natural and unheated. The piece shows vivid blue, red, and purple colors along its three axes. At just over 100 grams mass, there is a sizeable amount of high-grade cutting rough here, where you could go right up the gemmy core of the piece and cut intense purple-oriented stones including two of substantial size. As I say elsewhere here, I am a big believer in hoarding fine tanzanites, as the source just cannot last forever, and worldwide demand for the gemstone drives the miners to cut good crystals for the easy and quick monetary yield, as opposed to save them. This particular crystal was found in the early 2000s and has been in a private collection since that time. Comes with a custom lucite base for display. Joe Budd photos

A strange combination piece featuring a 2-cm-long gem tanzanite impaling a giant, highly unusual, blue prehnite crystal. The prehnite is complete about 4/5 around, with only one break where it contacted attached matrix, on the back of the termination. This is a significant prehnite for the locale, and a unique crystal habit and style overall. The tanzanite is a nice accent, but the value here is in this crazy , interesting, prehnite with its unusual color and fat, tabular terminations. From a find of 2011.

This is an intense purple-pink tanzanite crystal, which is a very rare and seldom seen natural color for tanzanite. The crystal is razor sharp and lustrous, and weights 38.9 carats. It is complete all around save for a small divot out of the back of the otherwise razorsharp termination (and hence is priced about half what it would, otherwise, but nevertheless is VERY impressive on display, and from front or sides). Joe Budd Photos.