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Calcite Streaks
Calcite is white and often streaky, as you see here. It can make lapis lazuli less valuable.
Sparkling Pyrite
People who like lapis lazuli enjoy the sparkles of pyrite inclusions.
So Royal
The bright and even royal blue makes this lapis lazuli attractive. Remember that it is the mineral lazurite that makes it blue.
Lapis lazuli is an ancient rock that is made up of three main minerals: Lazurite, calcite , and pyrite. Lazurite is the mineral that makes it blue. Calcite is white and shows up as flecks (like speckles) or streaks. The best lapis lazuli has no calcite you can see. Pyrite is glittery and shows up as flecks and veins.
Colors
IMG - Gem Factoid Color - Blue IMG - Gem Factoid Color - Purple
This rich-colored stone comes in blue to violet or purple.
History

6,500

Years Ago

Humans enjoyed lapis lazuli up to 6,500 years ago. Beads of this stone were discovered at a cemetery outside ancient temple walls in southern Mesopotamia, now known as Iraq.
Famous Lapis Lazuli
IMG - Lapis Lazuli Factoid 7390 200x200
Renaissance painters used lapis lazuli to make “ultramarine” blue paint. Nothing could compare to its brightness.
what's in a name?
Lapis Lazuli
[lap-is laz-oo-lee]
(noun) Lapis is Latin for “stone.” Lazuli is from a Persian word that means “blue.” So the name actually means “blue stone.”

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