Tanzanite the Blue Violet Gemstone....

Tanzanite is the blue/violet variety of the mineral zoisite belonging to the epidote group and on the few gemstones that is pleochroic, meaning it shows different colors when titled. Depending on the crystal direction, tanzanite can be more violetish blue or purplish. In many cases, it's color looks similar to a sapphire color. It was discovered by Manuel d'Souza in the Merenrani Hills of Manyara Region in Northern Tanzania in 1967, near the city of Arusha and Mount Kilimanjaro. Manuel d'Souza, a tailor and part-time gold prospector living in Arusha (Tanzania), found transparent fragments of blue and blue-purple gem crystals on a ridge near Mererani. He is known to have concluded it "dumortierite", a blue non-gem mineral. Shortly therafter, the stones were shown to John Saul, a Nairobi-based consulting geologist and gemstone wholesaler. Saul shortly after discovered the famous ruby deposits in the Tsavo area of Kenya. Saul eliminated dumortierite and send samples to his father, Hyman Saul, who was the vice President of Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City at the time. Hyamn Saul broth the samples across the street to the Gemological Institute of America who correctly identified the new gem as a variety of mineral zoisite. The gemstone was correctly identified by mineralogists at Harvard University, the British Museum, and Heidelberg University, but the very first person to get the identification right  was Ian McCloud, a Tanzanian government geologist. It was the first transparent blue gemstone discovery in hundreds of years, and represented a whole new species of gemstone.

Scientifically called "blue zoisite", the gemstone was renamed as tanzanite by Tiffany & Co., who wanted to capitalize on the rarity and single location of the gem, and thought the gemstone would not sell well. Tiffany's original campaign advertised that tanzanite could now be found in two places; "in Tanzania and at Tiffany’s”. The erratic changes in supply caused problems, though, which eventually led Tiffany’s to stop promotion. In 1972, the Tanzanian government formed STAMICO (State Mining Corporation) in an attempt to fix issues and capitalize on tanzanite.

From 1967, an estimated two million carats of tanzanite were mined in Tanzania before the mines were nationalized by the Tanzanian government in 1971. Since that time, Tanzanite has been used as a  substitute for the far more expensive blue gemstone, sapphire. 

In 2002, the American Gem Trade Association chose Tanzanite as a December birthstone, the first change to their birthstone list since 1912.

           Tanzanite and Diamond Earrings 2Pear Shaped Tanz=52.60cts with D=6.0cts

18k Yellow Gold/Silver Baroque Pearl Tanzanite and Diamond Pave Necklace D=~10.8cts