Ovoid Lapis Lazuli Bead Necklace. High Grade Afghani material, of very good natural ultramarine blue colour, with natural inclusions of pyrites. Aside from the Afghanistan mines only those in Chile are commercially feasible, and the Chilean Lapis seems rarely to have pyrites inclusions. Also, the Chilean material tends to not be as vividly blue as the Afghani, and seems often to be prominently included with calcite. Afghani Lapis gemstone rock can also come with calcite inclusions, but there is still so much high grade Lapis available from the ancient mines deep in the far north-east of the country that the lower grades, heavily calcited, are usually only used in ornaments such as small bowls or saucers or carvings.

Please note: the depth of Lapis’ ultramarine can be tricky to capture, and this image has not entirely succeeded, for the colour of the above bead necklace is in reality more vividly blue, less dark.