Stone me

In Merelani, (Northern Tanzania, underneath Kilimanjaro,) whilst the women fetched water and did other household chores, Masaai warriors played the ancient game of strategy called Enkeshui, more commonly known as Mancala. They filled the cups with rough lumps of rock such as can be seen in the photos.

Mancala is perhaps the oldest game in existence. A little evidence suggests it was played 5,000 years ago in ancient Sumeria, (modern Iraq); more evidence that it was played 3,600 years ago in ancient Sudan, (upper Nile); compelling evidence that ancient Egyptians played before 1400 BCE. Whatever.

In 1967 a Masai tribesman showed one Manuel d'Souza, a man with an eye on the main chance. Thinking he had found saphires he quickly registered four mining claims. Well, the bad news from the crystal gazers was that it was only blue zoite: the good news was that it was found nowhere else on earth and polished up nicely.
If deBeers could create an artificially high price for common diamonds, Tiffany & Co decided to do it with zoite. The first thing they did was rename it Tanzanite. Then they found it sells itself as it is attractive and rare.

This shy stone does not like to be photographed and hides its particular beauty behind a blue veil. It suffers from pleochroism, a disease usually associated with politicians who show different colours when viewed from different directions. The colours revealed inside the gem as it is rotated are red-violet, deep blue, and yellow green, but heat treatment removes or reduces the yellow green or brownish colour, maximising the blue and violet.
Gazing into the blue stone flashes of red can be seen like corona discharges or the interior of a well lit fire. I've never seen it before and would have bought it on the spot - except that I did not have half a million USD in my pocket and the nice lady would not take my IOU.Read more