CIRCA: Mined pre 1980
Lapis lazuli* in Afghanistan is primarily mined in the Sar-e-Sang deposit located in the Badakhshan Province in north-eastern Afghanistan, high in the Hindu Kush and Pamir mountains near the Wakhan Corridor, which it encompasses. The province, and the corridor within it, serves as a remote, mountainous panhandle stretching to the east, connecting Afghanistan to China’s Xinjiang region while bordering Tajikistan to the north and Pakistan to the south (see map above).
The region holds the oldest known continuously operated gemstone mines in the world – with over 6,000 years of activity from mines remotely situated at altitudes of 3,000 to 4,000 meters – and was the source of lapis for the ancient Persian, Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations, as well as the later Greeks and Romans. Genuine lapis lazuli contains shimmering gold specks (pyrite) and white calcite veins and is famous for its deep royal-blue colour. The stone extracted from this exact area in Afghanistan is widely considered the gold standard for lapis lazuli globally.
Note then the rich deep colour and shimmering gold specks in this polished piece, which is without doubt one of those ‘gold standard’ pieces! Known as the Obi-Wan-Kenobi lapis (because its shape resembles the famous Star Wars character cloaked in his robe), it weighs just over a kilogram and is a valuable, highly collectable, one-of-a-kind piece.