Our father was the first geologist on the tanzanite deposits in 1967. He was the one who introduced tanzanite to Tiffany's in New York in the late 60's. And we, his sons, are carrying over a similar passion for tanzanite and other gemstones.

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Our retailing activities in Tanzania are based at the following locations:

- in ARUSHA, at the Arusha Hotel / Tel.: +255-754-500-200

- in DAR-ES-SALAAM, at the Royal Palm Moevenpick hotel / Tel.: +255-757-500-200

We are the Ambassador to Tanzania for the International Colored gemstone Association (ICA) and will issue certificates of authenticity.

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No gem stone discovered in East Africa has had a greater impact on the gem market than tanzanite, a mesmerizing lavender-blue color, unique to the gem stone palette. Tanzanite shows different colors when viewed from different directions but, whatever the angle, the subtle depths of the colors are astonishing.

Tanzanite is only found in Tanzania and it is estimated that within 5-10 years its reserves will have been exhausted. Demand for tanzanite is increasing and production is unfortunately decreasing. Furthermore, miners have to dig deeper every day in order to find pockets of rough tanzanite. Tanzanite prices have increased considerably in the past few years – although some stability has been noticed recently – and are expected to go up as time goes by.

Our father, John Saul, was the first geologist to discover the tanzanite deposits in the late 60's. Back then, tanzanite was commonly called by its official name, blue zoisite. Our father was the one who initially brought the blue zoisite to Tiffany's President. As this new find was stunning to all, Tiffany's decided to market the gem and changed its name for commercial reasons from blue zoisite to tanzanite.

Our fancy zoisites

Tanzanites are known for their traditional blue hues with light or strong purple undertones. Note that the purple usually appears much more under the yellow electric light.

Rough zoisites exist in various hues. However, most of the time, these are not charming: too much grey or brown, uninteresting colors, etc. Once in a while, a beautiful pink, orange, yellow or green rough zoisite while be unearthed. Sometimes these fancy zoisites combine different hues. In such instances, we are careful in determining the axis on which we will place the table. We will of course not heat these zoisites. Not only are the nice fancy zoisites rare but interestingly they are also usually very small. Large beautiful fancy zoisites are very rare.

Chemistry: Ca₂Al₃(SiO₄)³(OH)
System: Orthorhombic
Hardness: 6.5-7
Density: 3.35
Ref. Index: 1.69-1.7
Birefringence: +0.009
Dispersion: 0.030
Pleochroism: strong
Cleavage: Perfect

Tanzanite on our website:
Tanzanite, the sky blue zoisite

Tanzanite on the internet:
- Tanzanite by Wikipedia (in English)
- Tanzanite by Wikipedia (in French)
- The Tanzanite praised by the ICA
- La tanzanite sur le site de l'ICA
- View tanzanite information at www.mindat.org

Tanzanite Foundation:
Information on tanzanite and selected retailers in Tanzania
- View information on the Tanzanite Foundation website
- Recommended retailers in Tanzania on the Tanzanite Foundation website

Blue Velvet
A very interesting initiative to promote tanzanite in France

Tanzanite's discovery and early days:
InColor Magazine, pages 15 to 17
InColor - Into East Africa - Summer 2007 Issue

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