Lapis Lazuli

Evoking the deep blue of the night sky, lapis lazuli has enchanted civilizations since ancient times. This stone, mined in the most inaccessible reaches of Afghanistan, is used for jewelry, inlay and carvings. If you are interested in buying lapis lazuli, you might have noticed that Lapis lazuli is widely available, therefore even on a budget, you can purchase high-quality stones. In this post, we will provide you with some tips on how to buy lapis lazuli, based on our personal experience.

Its signature bold, blue color can make a striking accent as well as a feature stone in a jewelry piece. Best of all, lapis lazuli is quite affordable. However, in today’s market, buying gems is not an easy business. The counterfeiting of gems sky-rocked in recent years and with increase of e-commerce popularity, this issue appears to be quite pressing. So, what can you do to insure the purchase of real, high-quality lapis lazuli for reasonable price?

Buy Lapis Lazuli Guide and 4CS

Lapis lazuli is one of the oldest of all gems, with a history stretching back some 7000 years or more. This mineral is important not just as a gem, but also as a pigment, for ultramarine is produced from crushed lapis lazuli (this is why old paintings using ultramarine for their blue pigments never fade). If you want to learn more about this amazing pigment, visit our post on Ultramarine Blue.

Nowadays to buy a gem so coveted since ancient times, you should consider factors like color, luster, clarity and other characteristics like origin, and state of the gem.

Color

Color is the main determining factor that determines the value of Lapis Lazuli. A deep, intense, blue with violet tones would be at the apex. Fine grained, uniform specimens can attain a smooth, highly polished surface not seen in lower grades. Calcite inclusions almost always lower the value, but pyrite inclusions enhance it in the minds of many collectors and jewelry lovers. Polish quality and faceting artistry also affect value.

The most expensive lapis show an evenly distributed color and have no visible deposits of calcite, although a moderate amount of gold pyrite flecks is considered acceptable. Too much pyrite can result in a dull, greenish tint, while calcite can predominate the mix, giving the stone an overall less appealing lighter blue shade.

Luster and Clarity

Luster and clarity are other determining factors to determine the value of Lapis Lazuli, as well as the cut or shape. Lapis is primarily considered a matte stone, but when it is polished it has a slight luster.

A debate exists between lapis collectors on how much pyrite is ideal. Most agree on that the less calcite the better the stone. Calcite can be seen as streaks or patches within the darker blue or can predominate in the mix, giving the rock an overall lighter blue shade. However, it´s not surprising that a stone whose popularity has extended across continents and millennia can reach new markets. Denim and country-western clothing have opened a niche for what once was considered low-quality, virtually unsalable material from Chile. Cleverly dubbed “denim lapis” is now sold widely.

Although many people associate lapis with dark blue, it’s also found in other blue shades, and even other hues. Its color can range from deep violet blue and royal blue to light blue to turquoise blue to a greenish blue. The combination of different minerals in the aggregate determines the color. For example, the presence of lazurite produces lapis lazuli’s prized royal blue color, while a mineral called afghanite creates a pale blue shade.

Grades

Lapis trade grades are based on color and the presence or absence of calcite or pyrite. Lapis types on the market today, in order of their value, are:

• Persian or Afghan—Intense, uniform, medium dark, slightly violetish blue. Contains little or no pyrite, and no calcite
• Russian or Siberian—several tones and intensities of blue. Contains pyrite and might contain some calcite
• Chilean—Often tinged or spotted with green, with obvious calcite matrix

A gemstone’s appearance might be described using an adjective that refers to a country or region, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the gem is actually from that area. Thus, lapis with a lot of white calcite spots and many green patches might be sold as “Chilean”, but this doesn’t mean it’s really from Chile.

Other characteristics are crucial too when you are buying your Lapis Lazuli like origin, enhancements, precautions and state in which the gem is.

Quality

First mine to produce this blue colored beauty is in Afghanistan. The mine had huge deposits and offered superior quality gemstone for many years. It still continues to give the high quality gems. Little less superior quality gemstones are procured from the mines at Chile, Siberia, United States, Burma and Canada. Other countries like Russia, Italy, Mongolia and Pakistan also produce this gemstone but in less quantity.

Inferior qualities of Lapis Lazuli produced by few countries are enhanced with the use of modern technology. It is mostly dyed or stained in order to improve the intensity and the uniformity of color.

Buyers need to be careful from buying the imitations at the price of genuine stone. Glass and plastics in different forms colored in blue are sold as original stones. Synthetic stones are also available in the market. Buying these synthetic stones is no harm but buyers should be aware of the fact that these are very cheap.

Analyzing the data on prices provided by traders and other sources is complicated by the lack of clear or consistent definitions of the different grades. It making it difficult to work out which prices are comparable, although broad categories are distinguishable. Traders are sometimes vague, and not all of them seem to think strictly in terms of grades. They also appear to sometimes classify Junduk lapis separately from 1 to 10. Sometimes as grade 8-10 on a scale where high quality lapis (known in Afghanistan as “Mahdani”, literally mine lapis) is classified as grades 1-4. A separate system also exists, classifying lapis from C (lowest) to AAA (and unofficially up to AAAA).

Prices

Grade 1 or the highest has a price of up to $2000 per kilo.

Grade 2 or High has a price of $1,050 ($o.21/carat) per kilo.

First Quality Lapis has a price of $300 per kilo.

Grade 3 and 1 has a price of $102-$153 per kilo.

Grades 10 and 12 have a price of $50 and $10 per kilo respectively.

Where to Buy Lapis Lazuli

In the today market there are hundreds of places where you can find lapis but like we’ve said before, always be careful and always buy your lapis in trustworthy places like our favorite Nammu.com store. Here you can find exquisite Lapis lazuli gems like earrings, pendants, necklaces, stones, and bracelets at the best price. They have free shipping and the best customer care. They give special attention to stores. Jewelry made and brought directly from the Afghan mines.

We hope these tips can help you find a fantastic blue gem. Always try to buy this beautiful gem in known places.

It is said that gem cutting artisans exist since several millennia before Christ. It all started with rudimentary tools to modern machines the artisans of today use. Here we will learn some of the favorite techniques used by the artisans of today and some of the most fashionable forms.

According to Wikipedia, a lapidary is an artist or artisan who forms stone, minerals, or gemstones into decorative items. It is the work of cutting or polishing precious gemstones. Most lapidaries specialize in working on particular stones and are sensitive to such characteristics as depth of color, hardness, and the effects of light when viewed from various angles or axes. The word lapidary comes from the Latin lapis that means stone.

It is said that the earliest known lapidary work likely occurred during the Stone Age. As people created tools from stone, they realized that some geological materials were harder than others. Another documented example of what can be considered as “lapidary art” came in the form of drilling stone and rock. The earliest roots of drilling roots, a lapidary method, dates back to approximately one million years ago.

Neolithic men were the first who created the first jewelry. They would bore a small hole through the Lapis Lazuli and string the pebbles of blue with a thread. Historians believe the link between lapis lazuli and human beliefs dates back over 6,500 years. Ancient civilizations, including Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Chinese, Roman and Greek, valued highly this stone.

Jewelry served as a status symbol in Mesopotamia as it always has everywhere else, but it also played a significant role in how the Mesopotamian civilization functioned

Another ancient civilization that developed cutting and jewelry fashioning methods for lapis lazuli, turquoise and amethyst were the early Egyptians.

By the early 1^st millennium the lapidary arts were quite developed in the Indian subcontinent.

A distinct unpleasant smell is caused mainly by the sulphur content of the stone when lapis lazuli is cut. It is said that experienced cutters can tell the intenseness of the stones blue color by the smell.

Lapidary Techniques

Sawing

Normally a thin circular blade made mostly of steel and copper is used to saw through a piece of lapis. The blade is also coated along the outer edge with diamond grit, allowing it to literally scratch its way through the lapis stone.

Grinding

The grinding wheels are studded with diamonds and this gives it the necessary hardness to cut away the lapis stones. These wheels are used to shape the stones to a rough shape.

Sanding

Here, much finer abrasives are used. The sanding wheel, used appropriately allows the artisan to remove any scratches left by coarser abrasives during grinding. It establishes the final shape of the stone prior to polishing.

Lapping

It is very similar to grinding and sanding, except that it is performed on one side of a rotating flat disk known as a lap.

Drilling

A small rotating rod or tube with a diamond tip is used to drill through lapis. A prehistoric from of drilling Lapis Lazuli like the bow drill is still used on the streets of Kabul.

Tumbling

A process in which the stone is turned on a slow speed in a rotating barrel for extended periods. This gradually smooths and polishes the stone into very attractive shapes. Use Chrome oxide when tumbling lapis lazuli. Group your tumbles by hardness.

Most modern lapidary work is done using motorized equipment. Gemstone material that has not been extensively cut and polished is referred to generally as rough. Rough material that has been lightly hammered to knock off brittle, fractured material is said to have been cobbed.

Fashioned Cutting Forms

Cabochon

Cabochon cutting or cabbing is the most popular form of gem cutting. Although a fair amount of skill, almost anyone can master this technique. Rough material for cabbing can be found or purchased inexpensively. At the beginning a lot people practice with any stone they trade or find and as they gain experience, they move on to more valuable materials like turquoise or lapis lazuli.

You can cab on a faceting machine, but you can´t facet on a cabbing machine. Something to keep in mind if you are a beginning lapidary student and budgeting your equipment costs.

Faceted Stones

A faceting machine usually employs a motor that turns a lap, a water supply, an adjustable handpiece with index gears and a protractor, and an adjustable mast or platform to hold the handpiece assembly.

Beads and Spheres

Spheres are initially sawed into cubes or dodecahedrons and then ground to shape between two pipes or rotating concave cutters, allowing the stone to rotate freely in any direction to form a perfect spherical shape.

Inlays

A Lapis Lazuli is cut to fit and glued into a hollow recess in another material and then the top ground and polished flush with the surrounding material.

Intarsias and Mosaics

Small pieces of lapis of different shades are fit together and the top cut and polished.

Sculptures

Gemstones can be carved, like other materials, into almost any form, limited only by the talents of the sculptor. Carving is accomplished with a variety of diamond-impregnated steel bits, saws, and grindstones.

Polishing

When polishing, Lapis Lazuli must be handled with care because of its modest hardness and not subject it to much pressure. Polishing can be used for ultra fine shaping.

After a gemstone is sawed and ground to the desired shape and sanded to remove rough marks left by coarser grits, it is usually polished to a mirror-like finish to aid light reflection from the surface of the stone (or refraction through the stone, in the case of transparent materials).

Incredible results are gained polishing a Lapis Lazuli stone.

Polishing Agents

Very fine grades of diamond (50,000 to 100,000 mesh) can be used to polish a wide variety of materials, but other polishing agents work well in many instances. Usually, these polishing agents are metal oxides such as aluminum oxide (alumina), cerium oxide, tin oxide, chromium oxide, ferric oxide (jeweler’s rouge), or silicon dioxide (tripoli). Different stones are often very inconsistent in their ease of polishing, particularly in the case of faceted stones, so gemcutters are often very inventive in trying new combinations of polishing agents and polishing surfaces, often tin, tin-lead, lead, leather, felt, pellon, wood, or lucite laps for flat surfaces such as facets.

When polishing lapis, polishing agents are used. Usually chrome oxide o alumina are used. A small felt wheel damp used with the agent is the best way to polish lapis.

Rounded surfaces, such as on cabochons, are often polished on felt, leather, cork, cloth, or wood. Polishing removes small quantities of stone and can be used, especially when faceting small stones, to do ultrafine shaping of the stone.

One important factor when working with lapis is that the pyrite inclusions are much harder then the rest of the stone. Pyrite makes this stone more vulnerable to fractures.

When you hold a piece of jewelry made of lapis lazuli, don´t forget that an artist transformed a stone from the heart of a mountain into the celestial jewel you have in your hands…

One of history’s most mysterious artifacts is King Solomon’s Lapis Lazuli Ring. This lapis ring has been mentioned for thousands of years in many Christian, Jewish and also Islamic legends. It is known by many names, including The Ring of the Fisherman, the Seal of Solomon and also the Ring of Aandaleeb.

 

King Salomon, the mightiest and wisest ruler of the earth that ever was or shall be. Wealthy beyond measure. King Solomon was powerful and full of wisdom. He commanded the wind, birds, animals, flowers and also both men and jinn. All were servants to him.

His true name was Jedidiah. The “friend of God” but later named Shelomo, Solomon, the “King of Peace”, because of the peace that prevailed during the greater part of his reign.

Genie In a Temple

It is said that during the building of the Temple, he noticed that someone was stealing precious gems from his rooms. He recognized that no ordinary thief could have done these deeds. “Some evil spirit causes this mischief”, he thought.

Solomon prayed fervently to God to deliver the wicked spirit into his hands for punishment. At once his prayer was answered. The Archangel Michael appeared before the King. He gave the King a Lapis Lazuli ring that enabled him to control legions of demons. It gave him the power to summon genies, to speak with animals and also flowers. It gave him incredible powers over almost anything. The ring was made of gold inset with a seal of engraved Lapis Lazuli.

Michael said, “Take this ring, O Solomon King, son of David, the gift which the Lord God hath sent unto thee. Wear this ring, and all the demons of the earth, both male and female, thou wilt command.”

Medieval Arabic writers related that the ring was engraved by God and was given directly from heaven. Many claim that the pentalpha, or pentacle, the ancient sign of sorcery, was engraved on the ring.

Some say the Lapis Lazuli stone was cut and set in the form of an eight-rayed star. On it was engraved the hexagon seal, and within that the four letters of the ineffable name of God.

Genie Summoned

Armed with the ring, King Solomon commanded the thief spirit to appear. He wore the ring an the mid-finger of the right hand. He pointed it at the foot of his high throne and said, “By the power of the seal of the one God, I command thee, troublesome spirit, to come forth”. The demon appeared instantly with his hands full of jewels stolen from the royal vaults.

The demon fell to his knee ad prostrated himself before the king. Solomon burned the seal into the neck of the demon Ornias as a brand of his sovereignty and the Jinni from that moment did his bidding. He was giving the task of cutting stones for the building of the temple.

Other Jinns causing trouble in the realm also came forward. They were, Onoskelis, Asmodeus, Tephros, Seven female spirits, Rabdos and also Envy. They were also branded with the seal of the Lapis Lazuli ring.

The Bible never speaks of Solomon uses spirits to build his Temple. Then answer me this, “What technology was used to build the foundation of the Temple, which is 5 times the size of the Acropolis. Its stones were joined without cement and in some cases were 100-150 tons, being the biggest 570 tons.

Design

One of the various designs of the seal as a Hexagram seems to arise from a medieval Arab tradition. The name “Solomon’s seal” was given to the hexagram engraved on the bottom of drinking cups in Arab Tradition.

Other stories of this ring said that it was made of brass and iron and Lapis Lazuli.

Hexagrams appear mostly in Jewish esoteric literature. Some authors have written that the tradition of Solomon’s Seal may possibly predate Islam and date to early Rabbinical esoteric tradition.

The Hexagram or “Star of David”, which became a symbol of Judaism in the modern period and was placed on the flag of Israel in 1948.

 

According to Wikipedia the Moroccan symbols on the flag and are a tribute to Solomon’s Seal.

They have used the Hexagram on their different objects representing their country including a Morrocan 4 falus coin dating back to BC 1873.

 

Hundreds of objects have this seal in multiple religions and beliefs. These are only a couple of examples of the use of Salomon’s Seal hexagram.

 

The Vatican Secret

One theory is that the ring worn by the pope is actually a replica of King Solomon’s ring but with a different seal. Every Pope swears on oath on the ring. Upon the death or resignation of the Pope, the ring shall be destroyed.

According to a Christian legend, Solomon’s Lapis Lazuli ring is also believed to be our only weapon of salvation against the apocalypse. It is believed it was hidden long ago with its mighty powers that cast away demons and evil spirits. The legend continues captivating us with this incredible conclusion; King Solomon’s Lapis Lazuli Ring is being protected deep inside the realms of the Vatican. It is at the reach of the hands of the Pope, the only person believed to be worthy enough to use the ring for its intended power.

What Do You Think

Did the ring of King Solomon really exist? Did King Solomon exist? It has been proven by historians that Solomon was not a fictional character of fable or myth. According to the Bible, Solomon was a fabulously wealthy and wise King of Israel and also son of David. The Talmud refers to Solomon also as one of the 48 prophets. In the Qur’an, he is considered a major prophet as well as the king of ancient Israel and also son of David, and Muslims generally refer to him by the Arabic variant Sulayman, son of David.

We don’t know for sure how did Salomon’s Ring looked like. Maybe it looked like one of these…

So what do you think? There is enough proof in every mayor religion that King Solomon (970-931 B.C) existed. So why not believe that this powerful Lapis Lazuli Ring also existed? I know I believe it…

Since lapis lazuli has been mined as early as the 7th millennium BCE, it has a long and rich history of folklore and legends. Due to its stunning shade of blue flecked with gold, it has long been associated with Godliness and supernatural forces. So, how can we talk about Lapis Lazuli and not talk about its most popular legends and its favorite fairytales?

In Ancient Rome, lapis lazuli was believed to be a powerful aphrodisiac. The stone often represented love, peace, and joy. It was ground into powder and mixed with liquids to be used as a compress in order to relieve negative emotions and energize the throat chakra. Creating a poultice out of lapis lazuli was used to draw out spiritual impurities.

Ancient Egyptians were particularly fond of the azure stone. The deep blue color stood out against the drab, desert tones. Since lapis lazuli often resembles a starry night sky, it was associated with the heavens and the supernatural. Priests would often dye their garments with lapis lazuli paint to solidify their status as Gods.

Lapis lazuli was often used in religious rituals. It was commonly employed in exorcisms. The stone was pulverized and mixed with gold and the mixture was then placed on the head of the afflicted individual. As the poultice dried, it would draw out the demons. Lapis lazuli was also a highly popular material for amulets. The image of Truth was always inscribed on lapis lazuli, which was worn around the neck of the Egyptian High Priest. The Egyptian Book of the Dead describes in detail the importance of lapis lazuli in funeral rituals. Lapis lazuli amulets were used to protect the deceased from evil spirits by placing amulets of the blue stone on the person’s body.

Many other cultures have incorporated lapis lazuli into their rituals and folklore. One famous legend states that King Solomon was given possession of a lapis lazuli ring by an angel. This ring allowed him to control an army of demons, which he used to build his temple. Lapis lazuli is described as a stone of great power and an ornament of the Gods in Assyrian texts. The Babylonians told of a tree of precious stones, which sprouted lapis lazuli from its top. In Summerian mythology, the goddess Inanna roamed the underworld and used rods made of lapis lazuli to measure the length of a person’s life. Lapis lazuli was commonly viewed as the physical flesh of the Gods.

Despite the differences and distance between these ancient cultures, they all held lapis lazuli in high esteem and generally granted it the same designation as a powerful and spiritual object. It seems clear that the gemstone has inherent properties that evoke strong emotions, and this holds true as it continues to be idolized for its beauty even to this day.

Lapis Lazuli Legends & Folklore

Legend of Gilgamesh

The Epic of Gilgamesh is a Sumerian narrative in verse about the adventures of King Gilgamesh. It constitutes the oldest epic piece known to man. It tells the story of the king of Uruk, a Sumerian city that presumably gave the name to the present Iraq.

The epic begins with five Sumerian poems about “Bilgamesh” (Sumerian for Gilgamesh), King of Uruk. Only a few tablets of it have survived. Approximately two thirds of this longer, twelve tablet version have been recovered. The best copies were discovered from the library ruins of the 7^th century B.C Assyrian King Ashurbanipal.

The Epic is divided in twelve tablets. The story is told by someone that shows admiration for the ancient king. Maybe a high priest of the Sumerian temples. He tells someone to look for a mysterious chest and to take the Lapis Lazuli Tablet that the King Gilgamesh left behind.

Gilgamesh was a hated King, son of King Lugalbanda and also of Goddess Ninsun. He mistreated the elders and also killed the young ones in mortal combat. His own people pleaded to the gods to stop Gilgamesh. The gods decided to create a wild beast named Enkidu, half man-half beast.

Enkidu

Enkidu lived in the forest with the animals. Also feared by hunters.

King Gilgamesh heard the stories of the beast so he sent a priestess to seduce the beast. Samhat seduced Enkidu and after that he became a human being.

Enkidu decided to go to Uruk and he fought with Gilgamesh. Nobody knows who won, although some consider Enkidu as the winner. What we know is that after the fight, the enemies became great friends.

They started a series of adventures slaying monsters.

When Gilgamesh placed his crown on his head, the Princess Ishtar raised her eyes to the beauty of Gilgamesh.

“Come along, Gilgamesh, be you my husband,

to me grant your Lusciousness’.

Be you my husband and I will be your wife.

I will have harnessed for you a Chariot of Lapis Lazuli and gold,

with wheels of gold and horns of amber.

It will be harnessed with great storming mountain mules!”

 

The Goddess Ishtar (Innana) fell in love with King Gilgamesh and tried to seduce him. Gilgamesh rejected her because he knew that all Ishtars lovers ended badly. Not happy with the rejection Ishtar sent the Bull of Heaven to kill Gilgamesh but the two friends killed it.

The bull had thickly coated horns of Lapis Lazuli. Gilgamesh filled them with oil and offered it in sacrifice to his father. The Bull of Heaven is what we know now as the constellation called Taurus.

The Gods were angry with them but they couldn’t kill Gilgamesh because his mother was a Goddess. So they decided to kill Enkidu.

After the death of his best friend, Gilgamesh went on a quest to discover the secret of eternal life.

Utnapishtim

He found the mythical Utnapishtim who told him how he survived the great flood on a vessel he made. Nobody doubts now that Utnapishtim was the inspiration for biblical Noah. Utnapishtim told him where to find the flower of youth. Gilgamesh was determined to take the flower to the council of elders of Uruk. This showed us that Gilgamesh was no more a cruel and selfish king. On his was back to Uruk a snake stole the flower….

We find many mentions of Lapis Lazuli in Gilgamesh, always as a way of making us understand the extraordinary worth of the object within which it is embedded. Gilgamesh is one of the earliest references in the history of mineralogy where precious stones are mentioned.

This is only one of the beautiful stories of the Gilgamesh Epic.

Other Legends of Lapis Lazuli also involved the Goddess Ishtar..

Lapis Lazuli Legend of Ishtar & Tammuz

Ishtar descended to hell to free his brother-lover Tammuz. Goddess Ereskigal had kidnapped Tammuz. Legend tells that Ishtar had a Lapis Lazuli necklace that protected her from the dangers in her voyage through the under world and the seven guardian doors.

On the first door she left her shoes to the guardian demon which symbolized giving up her Will.

In the second door she left her ankle jewelry that symbolized giving up her Ego.

On the third door she gave her cloth that meant giving up her Mind.

On the fourth door she gave up the golden bowls covering her breasts. This meant giving up her sexual activity.

And on the fifth door she gave up her Lapis Lazuli necklace that meant breaking off from the ecstasies of illumination.

Did somebody noticed that Lapis Lazuli was used to enter the Fifth door? In our post Lapis Lazuli Magical Properties we told you that lapis lazuli was a fifth stone on the Aaron’s Breastplate. Looks like a hell of a coincidence, don’t you think?

On the sixth and seventh door she gave her earrings and also her thousand petal crown that meant giving up her magic and her divinity respectively.

Ereshkigal killed Ishtar who was later revived by the gods.

Legend of Shipwrecked Sailor

Another incredible story is the one about the Shipwrecked Sailor. Our main character was a sailor that shipped out of Egypt on a trading voyage to the mines of the Pharaoh Amen-em-het. The great ship was rowed by a hundred and fifty sailors.

A terrible storm hit the ship and drove it to land. Our sailor seized a piece of wood and fling himself into the sea just as the ship ran aground. A moment later it was smashed to pieces and every man perished.

The sailor thanked the Gods because this was an island as no man has seen. He found within easy reach, figs and grapes, all manner of good herbs, berries and grain, melons of all kinds, fishes and birds for the taking. But it was empty from human companion.

On the third day he kindled a fire and cooked meat and fish. Suddenly he heard a noise like thunder. He saw the trees lashing and the earth shook beneath him. When he raised his head he saw a horrific site. Moving towards him he saw a serpent over a hundred feet long and with a great tail.

Serpent

“All his body shone as if it was covered with gold, and his eyebrows were as if they were inlaid with real Lapis Lazuli”.

The serpent coiled around him and asked the sailor, “what has brought you, what has brought here, little one? Say, what has brought you to my island? If you do not tell me at once I will show you what it is to be burnt with fire, what is it to be burnt to nothing and become thing invisible? Speak quickly, I am waiting to hear what I have not heard before, some new thing”!

So the sailor explained the reason he was in the serpent’s island and how lucky he was to have survived.

The serpent told him he was there for a purpose and that he was going to stay there for four months when a ship from Egypt will arrive. He told the sailor that he will die of old age.

He also told him that he lived with his brethren and children, that they were seventy five serpents in all.

So the four months passed and the Egyptian ship arrived. The serpent gave him gifts and precious perfumes, incense, ivory and other precious things.

The sailor promised to visit him but the serpent told him that when he left the island will vanish away.

This magical tale is immortalized on an Egyptian papyrus dated back to circa 2,200 B.C. This papyrus can be found in St. Petersburg.

Lapis Lazuli Fairytale – “The White Cat”

Countess D’Aulnoy (1605-1705) wrote “The White Cat”. D’Aulnoy was a French fairy tale writer.

The story is about a prince that got lost as a result of looking for his father the king. He seeks refugee inside a castle. The castle had walls made of crystal and doors made from Lapis Lazuli and covered in pearls. The owner of the castle was a beautiful white cat with many servants.

The prince fell in love with the cat after visiting her several times. The prince chopped the cats head because it was the only way to break the spell the cat-princess was on. He married the princess and went back to the castle.

These beautiful stories full of mysteries and enigmatic messages have numerous references of lapis lazuli. The gems symbolized royalty and great wealth. We can appreciate the importance Lapis was to the ancient civilizations.

And it is also important for us in Nammu.com where you can find the best quality jewelry of Lapis Lazuli.

Pamirian Legend of Lapis Lazuli

There is a great deal of legends dedicated to this magnificent blue stone Lapis Lazuli. An ancient Eastern legend tells about the origin of lapis lazuli. When God created the earth, water and sky, he looked at the fruits of his labor, and was unhappy: the earth looked too dark and gloomy. But the blue water and the blue sky delighted the eye. Then he took a little of this marvelous blue and sprayed it on the ground. The sky-water azure has hardened and has become a stone of lapis lazuli.

But the most interesting and captivating one is about Pamirs. For a long time, legends of lapis lazuli, kept at the height of the “Roof of the World” – the Pamirs, have been walking along the land. They were carried by rare travelers, who visited the Firgamu field in Afghanistan with a danger to life. This was secretly reported to each other by the old Tajiks who went hunting for arhars to reach mountain peaks. Finally, this confirmed the geological structure of the Pamirs. Predictions and hopes were justified. In 1930, a deposit in the Pamirs was discovered. The lapis lazuli was of high quality and had beautiful deep blue. It was not inferior by quality, but superior to Chilean and Afghan.

So in the azure blue “Roof of the World”, as if it merges with glittering glaciers and the blue southern sky, a bright gem appeared. Life has replaced legends.

Thousands of years ago, high up in the mountains of the Pamirs, amidst majestic glaciers, lay the gorge. Surrounded by a mountain, so high and steep that no traveler, shepherd, or any animal could penetrate to it. And yet the mountain goats trod the path there. The path went narrowly, looped at high altitude above the abyss, in places the legs of the animal slid, and it fell into the abyss.

Time passed. The mountaineers reached the house of lapis lazuli. They settled there, because sheep and goats were drawn to the waters from melting glaciers in the gorge. From time to time the water of the Shahdar River washed away pieces of lapis lazuli. Highlanders picked up pieces of the sky and looked at the mountains.

Time has passed again. Those who found lapis lazuli, got a good luck, health, strong family ties, harvest and immortality. The stone was considered sacred. Beliefs about its impact reached the valley. The first getters came. They extracted the stone in an ancient fire way: they built a fire, then abruptly cooled it with water, an explosion occurred, and the block fell to pieces. On asses, lapis was taken under cover of the night with great precautions to preserve the secret of the location. Only the secret of the silkworm was kept with the same care.

But the mystery was revealed. The Pamir’s lapis lazuli fell into the world, and people realized immediately that it was better, cleaner and more beautiful than the Afghan one. Greedy eyes caught fire and wanted to enslave the Pamir mines.

The path to the mountains to lapis lazuli still existed, but almost collapsed, so the mountaineers rarely used it, but there were no strangers. Evil people in black came from India, yogis were believed to endure all the difficulties of the path. They came with great hopes and nothing stopped them. Then stubborn people climbed on the rocks, trying to climb over it. But failed. Then they, according to their ideas about the gods (idols), decided to sacrifice, so that the rock parted.

They took peacefully the briar firewood from locals and took away two innocent children – a boy and a girl, and burned them on a sacrificial fire near that rock. Sacrifice did not help, and then people in black, completely crazed by the greed for profit, began to take livestock from the inhabitants, cut it and put raw bleeding meat to the rock. Since the height of the mountains was impressive, and it was very cold almost all year round, the meat carcasses quickly crept to the stone, forming improvised steps. Along these steps the strangers climbed higher and higher up the cliff. However, the cattle was over, but the goal is not reached. People in black clothes began to kill people and continue to “build” the steps.

Pamirians became known as irreconcilable proud hermits. They rebelled and killed a few starngers.
Since then, the path has been completely destroyed, the course was forgotten in the mines, the deposit was considered to be a dying, cursed and became a sacred place.

We hope you were inspired by these legends and if you feel like you need to own a lapis lazuli piece, do not hesitate and visit Nammu where you will find a lot of jewelry pieces from lapis lazuli.

When we talk about Lapis Lazuli we immediately think of Afghanistan, Siberian or even Chilean lapis. But there are more to that – a Lapis Lazuli from Colorado, USA. It is known to be of a fairly good quality, but, regretfully, the Colorado mines are closed today.

Gem quality lapis lazuli has been found in only four places in the world: Chile, Siberia, Afghanistan and in a once-famed Blue Wrinkle Mine in a North Italian Mountain near Crested Butte.

The North Italian Mountain near Crested Butte has an outstanding vein of Lapis Lazuli. Crested Butte lapis ranges in color from dark blue-black to royal blue to light denim blue. There’s even a mine of the opaque blue gemstone in a remote 12,700 foot high valley along upper Cement Creek.

Lapis lazuli actually prompted the term “royal blue”, since in ancient times, only kings, queens, and emperors were allowed to own the rare, deep-blue lapis stones. Learn more about the importance of this fascinating stone in Ancient Egypt from our Egyptian Lapis Lazuli post.

One of the first commercially traded gemstones in Ancient Egypt, lapis was valued equally with gold. King Tut’s sarcophagus and mask were made almost entirely of lapis and gold, and lapis lazuli (literally “heaven stone”) is poetically praised in the Bible’s Book of Job, Pliny the Elder’s history of the Roman Empire, and the records of Charlemagne and Edward I of England.

Lapis was also ground into powder for use in medicine, cosmetics and painting (creating the color ultramarine blue). By healers and energy workers through the ages, it has been associated with stimulating creativity and opening the energy centers (charkas). Learn more about it in our Lapis Lazuli Chakras Healing post.

The local lapis lazuli (from Crested Butte), labeled “among the best the world has ever seen” occasionally stirred a ruckus in regional and even national media from the time it was discovered in 1939 until the Blue Wrinkle closed down in the 1990’s.

Comprised primarily of the mineral lazurite, which is formed under high temperature in metamorphic rocks, Crested Butte’s lapis was created by the folding and shifting of the earth and the intrusion of molten rock millions of years ago in the Cement Creek valley. Then the blue vein lay hidden until Carl Anderson ran into a bit of bad weather in 1939.

The Blue Wrinkle Mine

Although the Afghans have been mining their lapis for 6,000 years, selling it to the Egyptians who used it to make jewelry and talismans, the Indians who put it in the Taj Mahal, and the Chinese who used it in screens, nobody knew the Colorado deposit was there until 1940, when a Gunnison grizzled miner-prospector Carl Anderson discovered it on his mountain property.

Known as “The Blue Wrinkle”, his makeshift mine had the following sign:

THIS PROPERTY BELONGS TO A MADMAN. HE´S A DEAD SHOT. NO DIGGING.

For a while, the Colorado Lapis Lazuli was brought down and sold in gift stores in Crested Butte and Gunnison. Some claimed it even cured snakebites, but lately the Colorado lapis lazuli movement has ground to a halt.

Unexpected Discovery

One day Carl Anderson was traversing high on North Italian Mountain, heading back to work at the Star Mine, when a cold autumn rainstorm sent him seeking shelter in a gulch at about 12,700 feet.

The truth is that one story says he was drunk and fell off his horse, while another says he just headed into the ravine to get out of the rainstorm. Like everything in a history, we think it’s probably a bit of both.

In any case, the rain had polished the blue face of some exposed lapis lazuli, catching Carl’s eye. He knocked off a chip with a hammer and in a few days tested chipped piece to reveal to his own amazement that it was Lapis Lazuli.

Mineral hound Otis Dozier, who years later became so fascinated with lapis that he climbed North Italian Mountain to hunt down and interview Carl Anderson, wrote the following account of the lapis discovery in a 1944 Rocks and minerals journal:

Near the top of the gulch, he noticed a boulder of limestone that was highly crystallized with iron pyrite. This being out of the ordinary, he stopped to look it over and knocked off a chip with a hammer. On one side was a small spot of dark blue color which the rain intensified. Mr. Anderson pocketed the rock. A few days later, he thought again of the blue rock in his pocket, looked at it under the glass and tested it. To his amazement, it was lapis lazuli.

After having identification notified, Carl returned to the mountainside above the gulch. He repeatedly shoved boulders down the hillside to figure out where the blue –studded stones must have originated to roll down the hill to where he found them. Once his experiments had pinpointed the likely source, he started digging. He found the main vein about three or four feet under dirt and eventually followed it for several hundred yards around the mountain.

The discovery caught unmediated attention due that it was the first gem-quality Lapis Lazuli in the United States. Several authorities have pronounced that it was lapis of the finest quality. Mr. Whitmore, of the Smithsonian Institute, has said:

It has the color and is also equal to any of the specimens of this mineral from any of the localities represented in our collection.

Carl staked some claims and worked the area with pick and shovel every summer for three decades, generally keeping to himself. Paul Schultz, an Oklahoma oil-man who became manager of the Blue Wrinkle Mine long after Carl died, said:

I never met Carl. He was kind of a grim fellow, from what I know.

Musician’s Takeover

Thirty years after discovering lapis, Carl Anderson died at the State Hospital in Pueblo without leaving a will. His son Andre, who had abandoned his life as a performing musician and come up the last few summers to help his father dig, took over the claims. For another decade Andre picked at the blue vein, spending his summers in a rough little cabin high on the mountainside.

Andre could be as much a loner as his father. It was he, who posted a sign near the lapis site that read:

This property belongs to a madman. He’s a dead shot. No digging.

He did however make a few friends in the valley. In 1977, geologist Gary Christopher wrote about Andre in a gem collectors magazine and eventually did some digging with him. Gary wrote:

Hearing the story of Carl and Andre Anderson, I knew my mind would never rest until I saw the mine and Andre Anderson. I’ll never forget the day that first trip. It was a beautiful day and I remember seeing a lone figure working in a trench way up on the mountain. It took some forty minutes of hard climbing to get there. I introduced myself and found Mr. Anderson to be quite friendly, even though he carried a big gun on his hip.

During the snowy Crested Butte winters, Andres sometimes lived at Harmel’s (trading lapis for rent), then at the Three Rivers Resort in Almont. The Associated Press story said of him:

He sometimes pulled out a postcard-sized photos that illustrated a glamorous former life, a time when he worked as a musician on a cruise ships: “Andre Anderson the singing Accordion Man”. Andres’ obituary described him as a former professional musician and photographer based in New York City, who sang and played accordion and concertina.

No one ever knew how much Andre pulled out of the lapis mine, though Gus Grosland, a retired Western State College professor who befriended the miner, remembers occasionally giving him a ride to Denver with his carpetbag full of lapis. Until his death, Andre was also hardly known for his generosity.

Grosland, recalls that he and his wife sometimes wondered why Andre always seemed to show up for a visit just before mealtime. However, Anderson did tell Grosland how he came to own the Blue Wrinkle. He was working with his father for three or four years before Carl died. The day after Carl died, Andre went down to the Gunnison County Courthouse and put the claims in his own name.

Technically, that’s what you call jumping a claim. He told me that, if anything ever happened to him, I should go down and register the claims in my name. – says Gus Grosland.

Andre grew ill in the late 1970’s and apparently sold the mine to Anchor Coal Co. to fund heart surgery. He died in 1981 and surprised everyone who knew him leaving $69,000 to Gunnison Library to establish a room for music and story telling. An interesting way in which Andre made sure that there was no question about what would happen to his CDs once he died.

Andre was a frequent visitor to the library, but this came as a complete surprise to us,” said Anne Zugelder, then president of the library’s board of trustees. Se described Andre as a “private person, strongly individualistic.”

Today, at the Gunnison Public Library, a pen-and-ink portrait of Andre Anderson hangs in a corner of a 1,500-square-foot music and reading room added in the last few years. A small plaque acknowledges that he donated the room.

Under Anchor Coal Co., the Blue Wrinkle Mine entered a new era, as the company brought in earth-movers to replace handpicks and cut deep into the hillside of Paleozoic sediment.

Since that day, mice nest inside the cooked stove in the Blue Wrinkle’s summer cabin. Marmots found refuge under the eaves. And no one lived in the one-room cabin anymore.

Since that time, as soon as the snow was gone, the men came with backhoes and giant earth movers. The heavy equipment did more in a week than Ande and Carl could do in a summer. During summers, those who worked the Blue Wrinkle, lived in a deluxe cabin a few dozen yards from Ande’s old summer home.

After just a few years, the Blue Wrinkle Mine cut twice as deep and wide into North Italian Mountain as the Andersons had managed in their 40 years of digging.

Famous Colorado Blue Wrinkle Lapis Lazuli

In the early 1980’s Colorado lapis lazuli received even more attention after an Associated Press article proclaimed it “among the best Lapis Lazuli the world has ever seen”. After that, headlines hit newspapers across the west, from Tulsa to Denver to Rapid City: “Remote Colorado Mountain yields world’s best lapis”.

Eventually, however, Anchor Gas found diminishing return on its investment and closed the mine. Gary Christopher, who had briefly worked with Andre years earlier, bought the Blue Wrinkle in 1991 and occasionally worked it on his own before closing it down for good.

He donated the Colorado Blue Wrinkle’s prize pieces of lapis lazuli, a 37 pound polished slab dating back to the Anderson era, to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

But it is not an end to the story of blue stone in the Rockies that added a wrinkle to Colorado history. In time, when Andre was still working in a mine, a man named Noel Adams, moved to Crested Butte in 1972 after growing up in Denver, studying sculpture in Boulder, and working as a photographer, illustrator and light show specialist for San Francisco. As years came, Noel changed several carriers and finally opened a Zacchariah Zypp jewelry shop.

He heard a story about Colorado Blue Wrinkle Mine and Anderson’s. He even tried to befriend Andre in its time, but Andre was not interested in knowing “hippy jeweler”. And so after the mine was closed and all Noel’s lapis lazuli stock was used, he started wondering.

For years Noel wondered what had happened to the rest of the famed lapis that had caused such a stir, and then seemingly disappeared. He had purchased some from other locals earlier but had used it all but one large stone. He said:

It was such a beautiful piece, I didn’t want to cut it up. So I decided I’d better hunt down the rest of the lapis.

Noel did some detective work to find where the lapis was hidden. It appeared that the raw chunks of lapis stone were relegated to a forgotten Tulsa, Oklahoma, storage room until Noel, who had long been intrigued by the stories, searched it down, bought it and hauled it to Crested Butte, where it belongs. Now he pulls lapis as needed from a storage unit full of rocks bearing streaks and veins of blue.

Now all this lapis belongs to me, but I don’t really feel like I own it. It’s more like I’m the caretaker of it,” Noel said. “There’s something special about this lapis. It really does have a certain feel, almost spiritualization about it.”

Learn more about what other magical properties people throughout ages assigned to lapis lazuli in our Lapis Lazuli Magical Properties post.

We, at Nammu, are always delighted to learn about different sources of our beloved Lapis Lazuli. Who knows if in the near future new lapis mines are discovered. Keep your fingers crossed… Subscribe to our blog in order not to miss the latest news from the world of lapis lazuli and amber,

References: LATimes, VisitCrestedButte.