Azurite Malachite Crystal Specimen

Known throughout the ancient world, the blue color, known as "azure," is like the deep blue evening skies often seen above deserts and winter landscapes. The stone’s name “Azurite” comes from a borrowed Persian word, lazhward, for blue. The name then became lazurium, to azurium, to azure. Ancient people used Azurite as an ore of copper, as a pigment, as a gemstone, and as an ornamental stone.

Used occasionally by the Egyptians as a pigment, Azurite wasn’t heavily used in paintings until the Middle Ages and Renaissance when the process to create the pigment Egyptian Blue was lost to time. It was found that multiple coats of Azurite pigment formed a beautiful crystalline crust with a deep blue hue and subtle sparkle. In this specimen, we can not only see the deep blue Azurite is known for, but also flashes and sparkles of electric blue around some of the crystals edges.