Tanzanite

What is tanzanite?

Tanzanite is a fairly new stone. Though it was first discovered and mined in 1967, in Tanzania, East Africa (hence it's name), it was only added to the official birthstone list by the American Gem Trade Association as an additional birthstone for December in October of 2002. 

Since tanzanite is one of the newest and most exotically colored gemstones, it is part of the Zoisite mineral species. This means that it can only be found in East Africa.

The color and hardness of tanzanite

Though tanzanite is considered by many to be a blue gem, as when it is mined it has a bluish color, it is often over-powered by the purple highlights in the gem. It can also be mined as a dull brown stone that needs to be routinely heat treated to bring out it's beautiful and rare color.

Tanzanite is a brittle and generally hard stone, a 6.5/7 on the Mohs scale of hardness. However, even though it can be worn daily, care should be taken to protect it from knocks, pressure and extreme temperature changes. Do not use a home ultrasonic to clean jewelry with tanzanite in it, as it can damage the gem very badly.

The mystic tanzanite

As tanzanite is a fairly new found gem, not much is known about its "mystical properties" and legends. The only one known about it is that it was Masai cattle herders that first noticed this stone some 30 years ago after a fire caused by lightning burned areas in Tanzania. The herders noticed that brown zoisite crystals had turned a deep blue-purple due to the heat from the fire.