Actually, lapis lazuli has tremendous historical and cultural significance. During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the only durable pigment for the color blue came from the lapis lazuli that was known to be mined only in a region of northern Afghanistan. Because of it rarity in the West, its use as a pigment was generally restricted to depictions of the Virgin Mary
Lapis must have been quite expensive in ancient Egypt. It was a long trek from Afghanistan where most of the Lapis is found to bring it to Egypt. It was much prized. Large chunks were no doubt a bit hard to come by when needed. Perhaps that partly explains why the blue stripes in Tutankhamunu's Nemes headress is actually fake Lapis Lazuli.
Wow It is nice to see you all are staying on top off things! Lapis is nice, nice and blue. Afghanistan is one of the most mineral rich countries on the planet. In the trillions of dollars. But donn't worry about that. The real value is in human potential. That would be you guys. Oh yeah, wea're screwed.
Lapis lazuli from Afghanistan has long been considered to set the quality standard. Some connoisseurs, however, consider certain lapis lazuli from other localities to be of nearly, if not truly, equal quality -- e.g., some lapis lazuli mined in the Coquimbo Region or the Chilean Andes since the early 1900s is considered virtually as good as the so-called top-grade Afghanistan material. -- This lapis lazuli is, by the way, extremely interesting mineralogically; it is composed largely of blue lazurite, with noteworthy calcite, diopside, haeuuml;yne, pyrite, scapolite, and wollastonite along with trace amounts of afghanite, allanite, arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, epidote, plagioclase feldspar, pyrrhotite, siderite, sodalite and tremolite as accessory minerals -- (see Coenraads and deBon, 2000).
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