TOP LAPIS LAZULI SPHERE![TOP LAPIS LAZULI SPHERE TOP LAPIS LAZULI SPHERE](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20128%20128'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Top Lapis Lazuli Sphere. The “Stone of Royalty”, lapis lazuli has been mined in Afghanistan for over 5000 years and remains highly sought-after. The very best quality good size sphere from the collection for sale at a bargain price.
A beautiful piece of natural, Lapis Lazuli shaped into a sphere and highly polished. Deep blue in colour with the characteristic Pyrite and Calcite inclusions. Comes with a Hematite ring stand.
Dimensions:
6.1cm diameter, 373g.
Location:
Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan.
Lazurite: Na, Ca8Al6Si6O24S, SO4. Sodium Calcium Aluminum Silicate Sulfur Sulfate.
Lazurite is a popular but generally expensive mineral. Well-formed, deep blue crystals are rare and valuable. It is more commonly found massive and combined with other minerals into a rock called lapis lazuli. Lapis lazuli or lapis for short is mostly lazurite but commonly contains pyrite and calcite and some other minerals. The name means “blue rock” and is always a brilliant blue with violet or greenish tints. The rich blue color is due to the sulfur that is inherent in the structure of lazurite. Small crystals of pyrite are always present in lapis and their brassy yellow color is both attractive and diagnostic in distinguishing lapis from its also blue cousin – sodalite rock, which lacks pyrite. The calcite produces white streaks in the lapis and too much calcite will lower the value of the stone.