Of all the rare gems in the world, one the most beautiful has to be Tanzanite. Although the mineral was discovered in 1805, by an Austrian named Zois, who originally called it zoisite, it wasn’t until 1967 that Manuel de Souza in Tanzania, found blue zoisite near the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro. In order to create a market for it, Tiffany & Co., renamed it Tanzanite after its country of origin. So popular has it become, that in 2002, it was chosen as an alternate birthstone for December.

Sometimes mistaken for a blue sapphire because of its lustrous purple to blue color, but much rarer as its only source is Tanzania, some say it is rarer than diamonds. When mined, this beautiful gem is amber brown, and not until it is heat treated by a gemologist, does its majestic blue violet reveal itself.

Here we have a spectacular example of Tanzanite in a ring by Joseph Aviv Fine Jewelry which contains a 40 carat museum quality Tanzanite stone set in 18k carat white gold ring and encrusted with 110 diamonds totaling 2.05 carat.

As Adrian Banks, managing director of TanzaniteOne Trading told Time magazine, “Tanzanite is not a fashion stone; Tanzanite is better than that."