Lapis Lazuli House Blog

Archaeologists and historians have analyzed the discoveries of lapis lazuli artifacts from ancient civilizations as a way to determine the patterns of ancient trade routes.  Lapis lazuli was traded along the Silk Road, referred to as the Great Khorasan Road, connecting Mesopotamia to Iran, Afghanistan, and eventually China.  Traders travelled this road with their merchandise for millennia.  The discovery of lapis lazuli items across Mesopotamia and the surrounding regions points to a productive trade route because lapis lazuli could only have been extracted from the Afghan mines in Badakhshan, meaning it had to have been moved around manually.  Supplies were..  - Read More

Though lapis lazuli is now mainly used as a gemstone in jewelry, ornaments, and for other decorative purposes, it had another main use in ancient times – paint! In the East, in Egypt, and later in the Roman empire, lapis lazuli was turned into paint and used in famous works of art. The four most important blue pigments used throughout history are Egyptian blue, azurite, smalt, and lapis lazuli. Before increased trading between the East and West, Egyptian blue remained the most commonly used pigment in Egypt and the Western world. However, after the early medieval period, lapis lazuli became..  - Read More

Lapis lazuli has been studied in great detail by geologists and mineralogists due to the intense complexity of its composition. Its abundance of chemical elements is structured in at least fourteen different minerals. Each piece of extracted lapis will have a slight variation in its composition, which influences the color of the stone. The physical properties of any stone are more susceptive to environmental changes when they are composed of a large number of minerals. Because lapis lazuli is so sophisticated in its formation, it truly has to be under exact environmental conditions – altitude, air quality, temperature – in..  - Read More

Amulets and talismans have been prized for centuries and across cultures. Even during the Stone Age, if an object was found stunning because of its color or texture it became an amulet and the person who found it attributed a certain meaning to its beauty. Gradually, different types of charms were labeled and granted particular properties that matched their particular colors or textures. Gold, the color of the sun, brought happiness. Green gems were often associated with power because of their striking shade. Blue stones, the color of the calming sky, guarded the wearer from evil. Thus, lapis lazuli, due..  - Read More

Despite being commonly used in the handicraft of ornate and beautiful pieces of jewelry around the world, lapis lazuli is incredibly difficult to work with. After purchasing a stunning necklace, ring, or bracelet made with the sparkling azure stone, it is easy to overlook the intense labor and finely-tuned craftsmanship that was put into the final product. For starters, acquiring a piece of lapis lazuli is no easy feat. Due to the complex geological preconditions required for its existence, the valuable stone is incredibly rare. In order to get your hands on a high quality piece of lapis, you would..  - Read More

Lapis Lazuli is an incredibly rare gemstone. Its chemical composition is so complex that the geological conditions have to be just right for its formation. For this reason, lapis lazuli is mainly found in two places on Earth – Afghanistan and Chile. These are the only mines where commercial-grade lapis lazuli is extracted. There are several other places where you can find some pockets of smaller and lower-quality lapis lazuli – Lake Baikal in Russia and Baffin Island in Canada – but this lapis is too poor to be used in most manufacturing. There are accounts of lapis lazuli occurring..  - Read More

Since lapis lazuli has been mined as early as the 7th millennium BCE, it has a long and rich history of folklore and legends.  Due to its stunning shade of blue flecked with gold, it has long been associated with Godliness and supernatural forces. In Ancient Rome, lapis lazuli was believed to be a powerful aphrodisiac.  The stone often represented love, peace, and joy.  It was ground into powder and mixed with liquids to be used as a compress in order to relieve negative emotions and energize the throat chakra.  Creating a poultice out of lapis lazuli was used to..  - Read More

In the Western world, precious stones are diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and sapphires. Any gemstone other than these four is referred to as semi-precious, but that does not make it less valuable than precious stones. A rare or high-quality semi-precious gemstone can often be worth much more than a diamond! Semi-precious stones simply tend to be more abundant. Since the terminology leads to misconceptions about value, many people in the trade no longer adhere to the labels of precious and semi-precious, though they are still used by the general population. Semi-precious gemstones often come in a variety of colors due to..  - Read More