Sodalite Crystal Pyramid Hematite Mexican aromatic hardwood

Mexican aromatic hardwood

The Romans believed it was made of frozen moonlight

2nd century BCE)

and emerald until Brazil’s great deposits arrived in the nineteenth century

5–7 but cleaving cleanly under a sharp knock

Sodalite Crystal Pyramid Hematite Mexican aromatic hardwoodSodalite deep navy veined with white, cut to four faces and an apex, the mineral kin of lapis lazuli: the blue without the gold. From Brazil, cut as a pyramid. It is a sodium aluminium silicate carrying chlorine in its lattice, and it gives its name to a mineral group; lazurite, the blue of lapis, is a member of that group, so the two are true kin. The white veining is calcite. Sodalite carries no pyrite, so there are no gold flecks the choice between