SM23-148
Sodalite on Nepheline
Ladjuar Medam, Sar-e-Sang, Badakhshan, Afghanistan
Small Cabinet, 5.7 x 5.5 x 4.7 cm
$4,500.00 Payment Plan Available
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This is an easy description - I start with the simple phrase, it has RIDICULOUS color! The rest follows. This specimen of sodalite shows off a textbook, razor sharp crystal perched nicely and balanced in marble matrix. However, the color… it is impossible to describe the saturation of this color. It is a blue-purple hue that I cannot find an accurate word to describe, only to say that it is intense, almost neon in strength. It is so far beyond the typical blue or purple or lavender colors we see in the group of related minerals from this location. This is, of course, the classic Afghani lapis lazuli location famous since Biblical and Egyptian times, for the Stone of Kings (Egypt) or the dye Ultramarine made from lapis (and used in medieval manuscripts). Ladjuar Medam is a generic name that just means "Blue Mine". Thus, it may refer to any of the mines in this area, of which there are many large and small. Fluorescent, as shown in the photo here.