Known by the trade name larimar this blue gem has since become a popular jewelry stone.
What is larimar stone worth.
Larimar is rated 4 5 to 5 on the mohs hardness scale but deep blue sections on the gemstone can be rated as high as 7.
Originally discovered in 1916 it was named by the dominican who re discovered it in 1974 taking the first letters of his daughter s name larissa and the spanish word for the sea mar to create larimar.
Larimar is a semiprecious stone that most closely resembles turquoise and comes from the dominican republic.
Compact material can make wonderful cabochons and transparent crystals are rare and usually tiny.
But the more intense the blue color and the contrast in the stone the higher and rarer is the quality.
Fibrous pectolite has long been a curiosity for gem collectors.
Larimar is a blue variety of the mineral pectolite pectolite is not a rare mineral and is found throughout the world but the exquisite sea blue color exhibited in the larimar variety is very unique and only comes from one place in the world.
In 1974 blue pectolite was found in the dominican republic.
Los chupaderos is a single mountainside with 2000 mining shafts dug by hand over the past 40 years in the search for larimar.
For this reason many look at hispaniola haiti and the dominican republic as a remnant of sunken atlantis.
Larimar is also called.
4 texture this is the most subjective aspect of larimar value yet sometimes can be the primary driver if the texture is somehow exceptionally striking.
The dominican man who introduced the gem named it after his daughter larissa and the stone s remarkable shade of blue like the sea mar in spanish.
Larimar is a unique variety of pectolite which is a stone with an unusual fibrous formation.
Larimar also comes in green and even with red spots brown strikes etc due to the presence of other minerals and or oxidation.
While pectolite was first described in italy in 1828 the unique bright blue variety of larimar is found only in the dominican republic in the caribbean and was only discovered in 1916 and only given its name in 1974.
Larimar is also known as the dolphin stone blue pectolite atlantis stone and stefilia s stone.
A very strong defender of the notion that part of atlantis could be found in the caribbean was the psychic edgar cayce.