Named after the country, Tanzania, where this gemstone was relatively recently discovered, tanzanite is the blue to purple variety of the mineral zoisite. The pleochroic nature of the stone, which allows tanzanite to show different colors depending on at which angle the stone is viewed, is, unsurprisingly, fascinating. The colors of tanzanite include blue, purple-blue, and violet-blue and the decision on which is the primary color is made by the lapidary and how he/she orients the gemstone when cutting it. Undiscovered until the 1960’s tanzanite was not designated December’s primary birthstone until 2002.

While the legends of some gemstones span millennia, tanzanite’s story is just decades old. In 1967, a bolt of lightning triggered a wildfire that engulfed Tanzania’s Merelani Hills, laying them bare. Passing through after the flames subsided, local Masai herders noticed brilliant blue crystals on the ground. Although the herders were unaware, they had discovered the stone’s secret: when exposed to heat, its drab brown color transforms into a gemstone of azure beauty.