LAPIS LAZULI

 Lapis Lazuli has been mined in Afghanistan for over 6000 years. It was quite widely traded; it was carved into scarabs in Egypt,   used as a pigment in oil paint (for fine art, not doors and windows, as it was an expensive way to make paint!) and Cleopatra used it for eye shadow. The best quality Lapis is a strong blue, often with golden streaks or patches of iron pyrite and mainly comes from Afghanistan. Poorer quality lapis is also found in Chile, but it often has grey inclusions that make it much less valuable. It is often faked using dyed howlite or jasper, or synthesised in laboratories, even with pyrite inclusions. Synthetic lapis is quite hard to tell from the real thing; the inclusions are usually too regular, and the blue in natural lapis has subtle variations.

In the Byzantium shop we have silver and Lapis Lazuli:

bracelets - earrings - necklaces - pendants -

Please click above to see them

It has a variable makeup; the intense blue is from lazurite; it also frequently contains pyrite, sometimes sodalite and calcite, and several other minerals in differing proportions.

The lapis we have at is all natural Afghani lapis and with good colour. We have a wide selection, only some of which can be seen online, so please come and visit.