Impressive Electric Blue Lazurite On Calcite With Pyrite

Lazurite derived from 'Lazaward' means heaven in Arabic, alluding to its adorable blue colour. It is famous for its gem form, Lapis Lazuli, casually called Lapis. It occurs almost exclusively in massive form without any visible crystals. The exception is the historic occurrence of Afghanistan, where this mineral is famous and highly regarded for producing outstanding rich-blue crystals unlike any other minerals. These crystals almost always perched on white marble matrix and highly sought out after by mineral collectors. It forms a solid solution series with Hauyne, essentially sharing the same chemical formula but with a variation of sulfide over sulfate, whereas the lazurite has sulfide dominating, and Hauyne has the sulfate dominating. This is especially true at the most famous locality of Lazurite at Sar-e-Sang in Kokcha Valley of Afghanistan, where all the Lazurite has in fact been determined to be Hauyne. Despite this, the mineral community still accepts this  material as Lazurite despite the scientific inaccuracy. It has become accepted to refer to the opaque, non-fluorescent, ultramarine-blue material as Lazurite, and all other material, especially when exhibiting transparency, as Hauyne. This particular specimen featuring an isomatric azure blue, well crystalized all around Lazurite impressive size crystal nicely positioned on creamy white Calcite with sparkling Pyrite. Its an indeed pretty neat and aesthetic example for the species from Badakhshan, Afghanistan.