Lapiz Lazuli (ex Willard Wulff Collection)

Item Description

The source of the world's finest Lapis Lazuli in the world comes from one of the oldest mines in the world. The mine at Sar-E-Sang has been operation for approximately 7000 years, and has produced thousands of tons of Lapis over the years. Lapis itself is actually a rock which is composed of a few species i.e., Lazurite, Hauyne and Sodalite, plus streaks of Calcite and Pyrite. This is a nice "Oval Cabochon" cut Lapis gem. It is a beautiful blue color intermixed with small particles of golden Pyrite, and white Calcite. Enjoy. This gem comes from the collection of Willard W. Wulff Sr. (1904-1998) of Colorado Springs, Colorado, a prominent figure and collector of Colorado minerals. Wulff was one of the founding members of the Colorado Springs Mineralogical Society in 1936. You can read Willard's bio on the Mineralogical Record website here ( http://www.minrec.org/labels.asp?colid=1528 ). Later in Wulff's life, he took an affinity to cutting cabochons, and this particular stone was in fact cut and polished by Wulff himself.