Tanzanite

Unknown Owner

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This is an intensely-colored crystal of natural hues, which run to deep purple (front) and deep blue (side) on the A and B axes. It is NOT heat treated to enhance and conform the colors to gem industry standard. This crystal has outstanding luster, like glass; and a sharp, interesting, bifurcated termination. The sharp form looks like that of a slab of blue glass, it is so equant and even on its faces. The piece is complete all around except for a few slight dings and a contact on the back side. What is really unusual about the piece is that the red/maroon color on the c-axis actually slips over and shows from the front, when it is lit strongly. Thus, you see red in the bottom of the front face, which should otherwise be a pure purple. The intermixing of the colors is not a common event I ntanzanites, and here it is very pronounced. Combined with the sharp, interesting termination (most have just a simple point), the intense colors make this a showy piece, of good size, at a price that seemed to me relatively low compared to others on the market today (and in fact I amortised this down from the original price my own source considers me to have paid for it) .