Named for Professor Ken-ichi Sugi, who discovered the mineral in a non-gem form in Japan in 1944, the first gem grade, commercially exportable deposits were not found until 1979 in the Wessels' Mine area of the South African Kuruman manganese fields. Although pure Sugilite, a complex silicate which gets its purple color from manganese, is a mineral species, much of the more variously colored material commonly cut into cabochons, and called Sugilite is technically a rock composed of both Sugilite and chalcedony. Sugilite was formed in deep beds of manganese-containing metamorpic rocks that were later invaded by silica rich hydrothermal fluids. Sugilite occurs as a microcrystalline aggregate and ranges in color from dark to medium purple, with variable amounts of dark or light mottling when chalcedony is present. Although a small percentage of the rough is translucent, most pieces seen on the market are opaque. The one and only source is remote (in the Kalahari Desert near Botswana), and it must be mined 3200 feet underground. I have no doubt that it would be buried still, if it were not a profitable sideline of on-going industrial manganese mining. In the early 80's, attempts were made to market Sugilite under various tradenames such as "Royal Azel", "Wesselite" and "Lavulite", but none popular of these caught on.
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Product code: Sugilite Collection popular - Sets of Earrings with matching Pendants