Larimar gemstone

Physical properties of larimar

Characteristics of the larimar

Larimar (Dominican turquoise, Haitian turquoise, blue pectolite, blue jade, dolphin stone) is one of the most amazing and very beautiful gemstones. It differs, first of all, in its unusual color, most of all similar to sea water, penetrated by sun glare.

At the same time, which is very interesting, larimar appeared on the jewelry market quite recently - the stone was officially discovered only in 1974 by Miguel Mendez in the Dominican Republic. Although the local population has long known about this unusual stone and simply called it "blue stone". And one of the local priests had previously tried to draw the attention of the country's authorities to this stone.

Mendez at first mistook the stone he discovered for turquoise, but later laboratory studies revealed that it was a completely different stone, which is a type of pectolite (hence one of the names of larimar - "blue pectolite").

And the beautiful name "Larimar" was given to the newly discovered stone by Miguel Mendez himself, combining in one word the name of his daughter Larissa and the Spanish name of the sea - "Mar".

The Dominican Republic highly appreciated Mendez's find and put larimar mining on an industrial basis. That is why larimar is also called "Dominican stone" or "Dominican turquoise". Although after larimar was also discovered in other countries of the Caribbean.

Although larimar is a new stone, it quickly became popular. They call it Haitian or Dominican turquoise, blue jade, dolphin stone. And by the way, despite the fact that larimar is classified as a semi-precious stone, its prices are quite high. Stones of rich blue and blue color are especially valued, although larimars are not only blue, turquoise and greenish, but also dark blue and dull white.

However, this amazing and yet little-known gemstone is worth its high price. After all, it has a fairly high strength, and its special coloring has no analogues in the world of precious stones. Although you should be more careful when buying jewelry with larimar, because fake larimar has already appeared on the jewelry market.