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KP26
Lazurite
Sar-e-Sang,
Badakhshan, Afghanistan
5.2x
3.4x 1.7 cm
$195
A
sharp and very well exposed lazurite crystal positioned aesthetically
on a marble matrix,
This
and all the other pieces on this page have not been cleaned with
acid-- that tends to eat away at the lazurite and leave rough, whitish
surfaces... unfrtunately many of the specimens I have seen in Tucson
suffer from those problems.
The mines at Sar-e-Sang have
been producing for over 6,000 years. They supplied the lapis
that adorns King Tutankhamen’s famous burial mask, as well as
various Greek and Roman artifacts. Although a lot of
lapidary grade lazurite now comes from Chile, crystals of this size
and quality have only come from Afghanistan.
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