This gorgeous crystal is a VERY UNUSUAL purple zoisite, a rare color fr zoisite from anywhere but Tanzania where we call the varietal there tanzanite. In fact, I have never heard of it before from this locality. Very few came out apparently, and this was the best single crystal I saw in a small lot belonging to Herb Obodda at Tucson. It has great lustre, is mostly transparent and trnaslucent in the remainder, and has a rich and uniform purple hue to it. I think this material is the most unique thing that I have sene out of Pakistan this past spring and all things considered, like how even a mediocre and common Afghani tourmaline might go for 10k, these weren't priced too highly for the novelty, significance, and color splash they add to a suite of Afghani gem crystals. I have not heard of any more coming out, and its been 4 months now, so time will tell if this was a one shot deal (as i suspect, given the fact we've never seen it before also).
Attribution: Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0
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