Afghani Briolette Lapis Lazuli and Silver earrings. The briolette cut is an elongated pear shape, quite elegant. Lapid Lazuli has only two commercial sources, Afghanistan and Chile. The Afghani mines region, in the rugged north-east of that country, not that far from the Tajikistan border, is the source historically for this fabled gemstone, and traders carried it as far away as Egypt, in the days of the Pharaohs, for use in jewellery and in inlay work.
The source in Chile was not commercially exploited until the early 1900s; it is consistently not of as high a quality as the Afghani material, tending to be more heavily included with traces of white calcite, and often being dyed to mask these calcite inclusions.
Lapis Lazuli is one of only two gemstone rocks, the other being Turquoise. (Most gemstones are crystal in form, with another half-dozen or so considered organic, like Pearl or Coral or Amber.) Interesting to note that Lapis Lazuli, crushed to powder, is the prime ingredient for the most expensive oil paint, ultramarine, the so very deep blue colour loved by painters such as Titian and Michelangelo.