Lapis Handcut Tubular Bead Bracelet. The Lapis Lazuli of the above bracelet is of Afghani origin, from the ancient Lapis mines of the mountainous north-east of Afghanistan, of good solid ultramarine blue. From antiquity the sole source of this gemstone was the inhospitable Badakhshan region north of the Hindu Kush. Salutary to contemplate the journey from there, up in the rugged border area of Afghanistan, Tajikistan and China, to ancient Egypt where it was used  in the funeral mask of the Pharoah Tutankhamun 3300 odd years ago.
In the mid 1900s Lapis Lazuli from the Chilean Andes began making a commercial impact on the global market for the gemstone; while the Chilean material can be of high natural quality, it is often marred with an over abundance of white calcite inclusions. The Afghani material simply tends to be more consistently of fine natural deep blue colour.