Many jewel buyers have encountered the majestic gem Tanzanite, lured by its blue-violet hues and hypnotic beauty.
Whether it’s for a collection, an engagement ring, or personal jewelry, it’s now a sought-after and rare gemstone. One look and you’ll know why: it exudes status and sophistication, in brilliant sparkles and hues of gorgeous violet and blues.
Read our guide to buying precious Tanzanite by clicking here.
What Is Tanzanite?
Tanzanite is a blue-violet colored variation of the mineral zoisite. Its distinct blue hues come from the presence of a blue metal called vanadium. You can only find this very rare gem in the Simanjiro District of Manyara Region in Tanzania, East Africa.
You may wonder how the vanadium gets into the gem and the process that involves heating. The presence of that steel blue metal in these zoisite sites is natural.
Tanzanite’s inherent hues intensify into deeper blues, purples, and violets when exposed to natural or man-created heat. Many jewelers and crafters use heat treatment to improve these colors inside the gemstone.
Raw, natural tanzanites have trichroism, or the condition of having three colors in a gem or crystal, with blue, violet, brown, or smaller traces of other colors. Using heating methods, crafters can create more lively and intensified blue and violet hues, leaving the odd brown color (and many other trace colors) out.
Tanzanite is also one of the 4 December birthstones, which focus on the blue color spectrum. The deeper and richer the violet and blue hues are, and the more sapphire-like blue, the more expensive and sought after it is.
The Origins of Tanzanite
Local tribesmen called Maasai, who have been around for more than 200 years before its modern discovery, have close spiritual connections with this gem. Tanzanite was often a sacred item they used for healing, protection, and divination purposes.
Tanzanite, however, is a recent addition to the gemstone industry. It became a hot stone in global jewelry by means of cinematic destiny and inherent high-value qualities. However, at least three people bear credit for discovering and identifying it.
In January 1967, a Tanzanian herdsman and native named Jumanne Mhero Ngoma discovered Tanzanite in the Mirerani Hills, in the Kiteto district of Arusha, Tanzania. He was herding cattle in this area when he saw these precious stones on the hill grounds.
After collecting a few kilos of the gems, he had them analyzed by local community experts and geologists. They told him they didn’t have value.
His reports reached a gold prospector named Manuel de Souza, who found small amounts of the blue gem in the same area in July 1967. De Souza showed the gems to John Saul, a geologist and gemstone seller who still couldn’t properly identify them.
So, John sent samples to his father, Hyman Saul, Vice President of Saks Fifth Avenue, who consulted the Gemological Institute of America. The GIA identified these samples as Tanzanite, a very rare, vanadium-infused version of zoisite. Gem specialists from Harvard University, the British Museum, and Heidelberg University also concurred with the findings.
Soon, with the push of jewelry company Tiffany and Co., it became a super valuable, in-demand gem.
Why People Love Tanzanite Jewelry
Jewelry fans love Tanzanite’s intense, beautiful pleochroic colors of blue, violet, and purple hues. It has the same blue hues and beautiful features as sapphire, keeping it popular and also in demand. Since it only comes from that specific mining area in Tanzania, it is rare and expensive.
Despite having a Mohs hardness scale of only 6.5 (diamonds are at 10), Tanzanite is a thousand times rarer than a diamond. It exists only in a certain area in Tanzania, making it even more precious to collectors and buyers.
Luxury jewelry company Tiffany & Co. had a major hand in investing in, introducing, and marketing Tanzanite in 1968. Their executive chairman, Henry B. Platt, introduced it through the company’s offerings as hot new luxury jewelry.
Platt discovered the rare gemstone in a European cutter’s place while on tour in 1968. Like the others before him, he found the deep blue and transparent stone enchanting. He acquired the rights to sell it in the USA, where it first became the hot new gemstone.
Platt talked about it in The New York Times, saying, “I could have named it Plattite or Tiffanyite.” He named it after the origin country, Tanzania, and also said that it was “The most important gemstone discovery in over 2,000 years.”
How Much Does Tanzanite Cost?
We spoke to Benjamin Khordipour, G.D., GIA GG jewelry specialist from NYC’s Estate Diamond Jewelry, regarding the value of Tanzanite today and what constitutes high-value pieces.
Tanzanite prices depend on the carat weight and grading level. It can cost a minimum of $600 per 1.99 carats of the highest grade, to $1500 for the highest-grade of 10 carats and above. Lower-grade Tanzanite is $100 per 1.99 carats, being the minimum price.
In 2026, the price range of Tanzanite only slightly increased, as the government of Tanzania maintained its scarce supplies versus high global demand. It has become a good investment because of its steady price and rarity.
However, industry experts speculate that Tanzanite reserves can only last for the next 10 to 30 years.
There are industry-set rating standards used in grading and valuing Tanzanite. The main criteria are its carat weight and the five grade levels of Tanzanite.
Investment grade is the perfect, rare, untreated gemstone with the topmost quality and features. AAA Grade is Heirloom, or the highest quality, almost perfect.
AA Grade is a high-quality stone with a good color, cutting, and minor inclusions inside the gem. A Grade is average quality that looks decent at eye level. Last is B Grade, considered the lowest grade and cheapest. These grades use gem cutting quality, color quality, and clarity levels to gauge the gemstone’s grade.
Then there are also unique individual qualities that jewelers look at in-depth, such as hues and colors inside the gem. Features like these create more sparkle and present different color hues in sunlight and incandescent or artificial light.
Assessments allow a closer look at the gem for imperfections or non-ordinary color hues inside. These qualities add to the pricing and value guides that dictate their price.
Buying Loose Tanzanite
Each Tanzanite stone is unique and rare, making it of high value. The rarer the variation and the deeper the hues, plus high gemstone quality, dictate its price in the global market. Large and high-quality Tanzanite stones are very rare and fetch astronomical prices for their size and rarity.
One of the most important grading characteristics of Tanzanite is its color grading. It puts a premium on hue, tone, and saturation. Hue is the outright color when viewing Tanzanite in person, with the dominant hue often having a secondary color profile.
Tone refers to the lightness-to-darkness intensity of the stone. The quality and types of cuts used on it can affect its light reflection properties and its overall tone. Saturation is how deep, intense, and vivid its blue color is, with 6 levels of saturation from greyish and brown to vibrant blue. High saturation levels are very rare and fetch top dollars.
The most universally accepted standard is GIA’s system. Other grading systems are available; however, the GIA system is the official one. Other systems include those from the Tanzanite Foundation and the IGSL, or International Gemological Solutions Laboratory.
The four basic Cs of diamond quality will also help you gauge the Tanzanite’s actual value. Color, clarity, cut, and carat weight are the basic standards for grading them.
Look for these qualities and ask the jeweler or specialist to discuss their features. Make sure to consult a trusted jewelry store or online jewel merchant with years of experience in the industry and quality jewelry offerings.
Color
Tanzanite colors feature an almost infinite combination of blue, violet, and purple hues, along with other smaller color traces. Tanzanite with deeper and more intense blue, violet, or purple hues is more expensive and valuable.
Clarity
Just like diamonds, the level of clarity and being eye clean commands higher pricing. The clearest Tanzanite pieces free of inclusions, inner fractures, and imperfections will fetch top dollars.
Cut
The cut of a gemstone is another critical factor in its value. Proper craftsmanship cuts that maximize its brilliance and sparkle bring bigger dollars.
Proper cuts from the professionals always aim for the least amount of Tanzanite weight loss discarded and its maximum lighting effect. It’s always a critical balance in getting more intense colors and cutting out the least material.
Carat weight
Carat weight is the measure of weight for gemstones and pearls, for each 200mg of mass. One carat is divisible by 100 points, each weighing 2 mg.
While it’s the least of the 4 main categories, heavier Tanzanite weighing 5 carats and up has deeper hues and colors.
Buying Tips and Reminders
Tanzanite is rare and expensive. To uphold global industry standards and national standards, each Tanzanite gem comes with an official certification.
A process called the GIA Colored Stone Identification Report is a thorough analysis to reveal its carat, cutting style, color, and other details, whatever state it’s in. This also reveals if it’s a lab-grown version, a synthetic copy, or what treatments it went through.
Check for these types of certifications from your seller. Specialist jewelers will be happy to discuss its features and pricing.
Tanzanite can undergo gem processing to enhance its features or remove unwanted colors or elements. Some Tanzanite in the market is a synthetic or lab-made version and an imitation. Many jewelry companies sell declared synthetics and lab-grown stones as more affordable look-alikes. Make sure these details are clear and in the item description.
Inspections and customer checks like these give you a closer, detailed look at its quality and features. In rare cases of defects or inclusions, you can negotiate the price in most cases.
Tanzanite Colors
Tanzanite’s dazzling, hypnotic blue, violet, and purple hues come in almost infinite, indefinite variations. It’s one of its most unique, valuable, and bankable traits that translates into high prices. And this is on top of their rarity.
Tanzanite is a pleochroic stone, showing different color hues and combinations depending on the angle of light and where a viewer looks at it. They change in different angles and directions.
Professional cuts also maximize the use of light and how it enters, creating maximum gemstone sparkle.
Its colors and interactions with light, reflections, refractions, plus different light conditions and situations create these illusion-like color merges, marbled mixes, and other naturally occurring random combinations. These features all play key roles in creating different color collections in one Tanzanite stone.
Other Colors, Illuminated
Inside these stones, vanadium, chromium, and smaller traces of other minerals fuse into its structure. These tints create trapped colors that create internal three-dimensional colors, which interact with the Tanzanite’s outer features and lighting.
Light plays a key role in analyzing deeper color features. Jewelry will change in hue and visual quality under different lights and settings.
Incandescent light can expose violet, purple, and some red hues, and sunlight or fluorescent light exposes more of its blue hues. LED lights can show red, light purple, and other colors.
As mentioned, there are other colors present in Tanzanite, depending on other natural minerals that fused during its creation process deep in the Tanzanian earth. Yellow, green, red, pink, and even orange can appear in different variations, showing up in different light conditions, also making them rare and more expensive.
Dominant Colors, and Other Colors
Blue and violet are the main selling colors of Tanzanite. Many jewel buyers, collectors, investors, and traders pick deep blue as the main priority, then violet, and other violet-blue combinations, and pay top dollar.
Larger Tanzanite pieces have the deepest blue hues. They are rare and post the highest prices in the industry. Often they can range from 10 to 50 carats. Bigger ones up to 100 carats with super deep blue hues also exist, but are very rare.
Cutting raw stones requires Tanzanite specialists who can maximize and expose the brilliance and sparkle through proper cuts. They are often brownish and may need heat treatment and proper cuts to exposes its blue colors inside to pop out and shine.
These stones often have high-quality grades, cut (if already cut), and clarity, hitting all four Cs of stone quality. Many stones bearing these deep colors and hues have AAAA, AAA grades, either flawless or almost flawless at eye level and after inspection.
Most of the lower-grade Tanzanite (80%) is pastel to light, more available, and more affordable. They come in various assortments of blue and violet hues with other naturally occurring colors. Those that are more blue and violet in color get an AA rating and higher pricing.
Tanzanite Clarity Guide
Tanzanite clarity is another important factor in its quality. Just like its colors, clarity comes in a wide range, offering a wide selection of clear to the clearest Tanzanite.
Unlike with diamonds, clarity levels are not as in-depth when it comes to the basic clarity grading for Tanzanite. Due to its complex colors, they are also difficult to analyze unless under deep magnification by specialists.
Buyers and sellers use seasoned eye-level inspection for visible flaws to get a rating of at least eye-level clean or VVS. These terms mean no visible inclusions found in the stone.
Outright visible inclusions lower its price and value. If there are inclusions not seen in eye-level inspection, they are often minor and need extreme magnification.
IF or Internally flawless levels are even rarer, and command the highest prices in the Tanzanite price index. Next is the VVS level, which is the most common type of grading clarity by visual inspection.
Lower-level clarity Tanzanite falls under the VS level, or Very Slight Inclusion grades, or SI, or Slight Inclusion. VS has visible inclusions or imperfections, while SI has more visible random imperfections. Tanzanite pieces below these clarity levels have different and more inclusions and sometimes fractures that drag their price and value below the normal averages.
Proper Care and Cleaning for Tanzanite
Tanzanite is blue Zoisite, with a Mohs scale of hardness between 6 and 7. This means that it is prone to damage from direct hits and impact.
Tanzanite is prone to cleavage, one of its inherent properties that makes it vulnerable to breakage upon impact. So, proper care and awareness of where you wear your jewelry is very important. Tanzanite wearing is not recommended for very busy activities and settings where it can come into contact with harder elements such as concrete, metals, steel, and other harder materials.
While heat, in higher extremes, is one of the tools to intensify or modify its blue color, it is also not recommended to subject the gemstone to high temperature levels or extreme temperature shifts. It is often resistant to common chemicals, but please do not expose it to hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acids.
Tanzanite basic cleaning only involves the use of soapy warm water. Do not use machine-based, ultrasonic, or steam cleaners to protect its integrity. Specialists also prohibit scrubbers or polishing materials.
Thank you for this wonderful guide. I inherited a Tanzanite ring from my aunt, and it’s pretty amazing