Lapis lazuli object in great shape with incredible color of the best quality

A polished lapis lazuli solitaire in deep ultramarine blue, with fine golden pyrite specks and white calcite veins.

Lapis lazuli is not a single mineral, but a rock. Its main component is lazurite, which gives it its intense blue color. Calcite (white) and pyrite (golden) are also constant companions.

The intense, uniform coloration of this piece marks it as best quality class. It comes almost exclusively from the traditional mining regions of Sar-e-Sang in Afghanistan, the oldest documented lapis lazuli mine in the world with over 6,000 years of mining history.

The fine golden pyrite dots are the visual hallmark of high-quality pieces. Unlike some Chilean deposits, there is no dominant calcite content here, but a uniform lazurite blue.

Pharaohs, Renaissance painters, and medieval scribes used this mineral color as ultramarine pigment, which for centuries was more expensive than gold.

A collector's item with cultural depth, suitable as an accent in a library or a collector's display.