Tanzanite Earrings
Tanzanite generates an energy of happiness and relief from worries, allowing insight into emotional issues without the need to dwell on them unnecessarily. It inspires one in feeling more compassionate, loving and centered. A prospector named Manuel d’Souza who was looking for sapphire discovered tanzanite in 1967 in northeastern Tanzania. D’Souza was originally from India and had been looking for stones in the wilds of Tanzania. Eventually, some natives took him to an area in the region of the Merelani Hills near Mount Kilimanjaro, around 90 kilometers from his home town of Arusha. There, he found these precious blue stones he thought were sapphire. According to legend, the Masai herders were actually the ones who originally discovered the stone, when a lightning strike set the surrounding grasslands on fire. When they returned to the land with their livestock, the blue stones were all over the ground. D’Souza soon discovered that the blue stones he had found were not sapphire, so he staked a claim with the government and began mining. With few inclusions, by 1970, the royal blue find was soon the focus of American and European publicity. When word of the new gemstones got out, Henry Platt of Tiffany and Co. named the new gem “tanzanite” and Tiffany’s began a marketing campaign to introduce it to the public. Now, tanzanite is the pride of the gem rich East African country, Tanzania.