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The Meaning of Tanzanite

The Meaning of Tanzanite thumbnail
Tanzanite is a blue gem.

The Tanzanite Foundation, the organization that markets tanzanite, calls the blue gem "the" birthstone, intended as a gift for a mother on the birth of her child. The world's only tanzanite mine is located in Africa. Does this Spark an idea?

  1. History

    • A Masai tribesman discovered the tanzanite deposit in 1967 in Tanzania's Rift Valley, located about 25 miles from Mount Kilimanjaro.

    Identification

    • "Tanzanite" is the Tanzanite Foundation's name for blue zoisite, a mineral with a calcium-aluminum-silicate-hydroxide structure.

    Significance

    • The Tanzanite Foundation calls tanzanite a "geological phenomenon" and says that the gemstone is 1,000 times rarer than diamonds.

    "Mystical"

    • According to the Tanzanite Foundation, the Masai people consider tanzanite a "mystical" stone, created when a bolt of lightning struck the earth and transformed rocks into purple-blue gems.

    Function

    • The Tanzanite Foundation links its marketing campaign for new mothers to the Masai custom of giving new mothers blue beads and garments. The foundations says Masai fathers now give mothers tanzanite to symbolize the good life they wish for their newborn children.

    Other Meaning

    • In 2002, the American Gem Trade Association added tanzanite as a December birthstone.

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  • Photo Credit tanzanite ring image by Julianna Olah from Fotolia.com

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