Fancy Tanzanite — Exceptional Saturation & Rare Intensity
Fancy Tanzanite represents the highest color echelon within the tanzanite spectrum. While standard material exhibits blue-violet tones, fancy-grade stones display unusually deep saturation, vivid royal violet, or intensely electric blue hues that distinguish them immediately from commercial quality specimens.
Geological Rarity
All tanzanite originates from a single mining district near Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. However, only a small percentage of extracted material qualifies as fancy grade. These crystals exhibit superior clarity, exceptional color concentration, and optimal crystal orientation for precision cutting.
Mining yields have steadily declined over the years, further enhancing the scarcity of high-intensity specimens.
Optical Performance & Pleochroism
Fancy Tanzanite demonstrates strong trichroism — revealing flashes of blue, violet, and burgundy depending on viewing angle. Master cutters orient the crystal to emphasize the most desirable royal blue-violet axis, maximizing brilliance and depth.
Proper cutting dramatically enhances saturation, transforming the crystal from geological specimen into a luminous collector gemstone.
Distinguishing Characteristics
• Intensely saturated violet-blue color • High transparency with minimal inclusions • Strong pleochroic contrast • Expert precision cutting • Limited availability in larger carat weights
Fancy specimens above five carats with top clarity are considered particularly rare and highly sought after by collectors and connoisseurs.
Chemical Composition & Crystal Structure
Fancy Tanzanite is the blue to violet variety of the mineral zoisite, a calcium aluminum silicate belonging to the epidote group. Its precise chemical formula is:
Ca₂Al₃(SiO₄)(Si₂O₇)O(OH)
The distinctive blue-violet coloration is caused primarily by trace amounts of vanadium (V³⁺) substituting within the aluminum sites of the crystal lattice. In its natural state, freshly mined crystals often display brownish or greenish tones due to oxidation states within the vanadium content. Controlled heat treatment alters these states, eliminating brown components and revealing the saturated violet-blue hue for which fancy-grade stones are prized.
Zoisite crystallizes in the orthorhombic crystal system, producing elongated prismatic crystals. Its perfect cleavage in one direction makes cutting a technically demanding process, requiring precision alignment to preserve structural integrity while maximizing color saturation.
The strong trichroism exhibited by Fancy Tanzanite — displaying blue, violet, and burgundy depending on orientation — is a direct result of light interacting with its anisotropic crystal structure.
Market Position & Collectibility
Within the modern gemstone market, Fancy Tanzanite occupies a premium tier due to its visual intensity and restricted supply. As mining activity decreases and global demand increases, high-grade stones are expected to become progressively more difficult to obtain.
For collectors seeking contemporary rarity with geological exclusivity, Fancy Tanzanite represents a compelling acquisition — a gemstone born from a singular location and elevated through master craftsmanship.