Tanzanite

Tanzanite
Symbolism and Legends :
The symbolism of Tanzanite as well as its origin are particularly magical.
In Africa, the Maasai people see Tanzanite as a gift from God. When a Maasai child
comes to life, he receives this magnificent fine stone because this one, according to their beliefs, brings
happiness and prosperity to the one who wears it. How I wish I had been born Maasai!
The origin of this belief is as beautiful and mysterious as Africa itself. The myth tells us that
that one particularly stormy evening during the rainy season, lightning struck near the Merelandi Hills, causing a
Merelandi Hills, causing a terrible fire. When the fire was extinguished the next morning, while
the next morning, as they drove their cattle near the burned area, the Maasai herders fell to their knees as they saw the gift their god had given them.
the gift that their god had given them thanks to this divine lightning: beautiful
stones of an intense and mysterious blue-purple!
The god Ngai had converted the ordinary and unattractive brown stones of the hill into brilliant and luminous stones.
... And so was born the first collection of Tanzanite!
But how much truth is there in this legend?
It is likely that a huge fire caused by lightning acted as a heat treatment, which
which transformed these unattractive brown stones (zoïsites), into blue-violet stones.
This is a simple matter of chemistry, but it does not take anything away from the magic of this stone,
far from it!
How did this stone come to us?
It was in 1967 when Manuel d'souza, a Portuguese treasure hunter, traveled to Africa in search of rubies of rare quality and
in search of rubies of rare quality and sapphires. His journey took him to a place at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro
Mount Kilimanjaro, where he came across a mass of shiny blue rocks that he initially mistook for
at first mistook for sapphires. At that moment he would never have imagined that he had just discovered a stone
discovered a previously unknown stone.
Then, the CEO of Tiffany, during a trip to Tanzania, discovered this wonderful and captivating stone and decided to
and decided to market it and name it after its place of origin,
Tanzania. This is how Tanzanite, the stone of the Maasai gods, was discovered and
marketed.
Properties
Tanzanite is the blue/purple variety of the mineral Zoïsite. As you can see on the picture below, the
As you can see in the photo below, the most popular hue is a color that ranges from ultramarine to sapphire blue. The
hardness of this stone is relatively low: 6.5 to 7 on the Mohs scale (rating scale of 1 to 10 characterizing the strength of
to 10 characterizing the resistance of gems to scratching) so be careful when Tanzanite is
mounted in a ring.
In daylight, tanzanite is bluer, while the violet tone will be visible
purple tone will be visible under artificial light. So beware when buying
Tanzanite; the dealer can play with the light!
When we take a raw Tanzanite,
we can observe different colors in the gem, which
can vary from purple to blue, brown or yellow. This is what gemologists call
pleocroism. It is now the tailor's turn to make the most of it! The fate of the final
of the final color of the stone is in his hands.
Indeed, depending on the orientation of the colors in the stone, the goal of the cutter is to obtain the highest weight of the gem by
weight of the gem by bringing out the most beautiful color that it can offer. To do this, he
To do this, he examines the stone with great care, observing the play of colors, impurities,
transparency and begins to cut the stone with gentleness and love, to transform this raw stone
into a magnificent work of art.
Technical aspects
To understand this stone, you need to know one last characteristic of Tanzanite, linked to the
pleochroism explained above. Some stones are trichroic, which means that one can
perceive three different colors in the stone. Others are dichroic and we will therefore see
two colors.
It is possible to apply a heat treatment to improve the blue-violet color of
Tanzanite. This method minimizes the bronze hue, accentuating most of the blue, violet and
purple. In doing so, the gem transforms its trichroism into dichroism.
Tips
Tanzanite should not be ultrasonically cleaned or come in contact with acid. A simple
soft, damp cloth is enough to preserve its magical appearance. Tanzanite should not be
exposed to sudden temperature changes, it could damage it. When mounting
of Tanzanite in jewelry, it is advisable to choose a model that can protect it from external
external aggressions. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)