Lucky key ring with real Lapis Lazuli split stones.

Lapis lazuli, also known as lapis lazuli, is an opaque gemstone with a deep azure blue color. It is a rock and not a mineral because it consists of several components. The main location is Afghanistan. Lazurite, which makes up 25% to 40% of lapis lazuli, is the major component and has the chemical formula (Na,Ca)8(AlSiO4)6(S,SO4,Cl). Other important components are calcite (white), sodalite (blue) and pyrite (yellow and metallic shiny). In addition, minerals such as augite, diopside, enstatite, micas, hauynite, hornblende, geyerite (a sulfur-rich variant of lollingite) and nosean can occur in lapis lazuli. With a hardness of 5.5 on the Mohs scale, lapis lazuli is not exceptionally hard, making it easily scratched by harder stones. Therefore, it is unwise to store jewelry containing lapis lazuli together with harder gemstones. Some alternative healers attribute spiritual power to lapis lazuli. It usually arises from contact metamorphism in crystalline marble. Lapis lazuli has been known since ancient times and was used as early as around 4000 BC. traded in the city of Ur. It was a trade commodity between Sumer, Dilmun and Meluhha and was very popular in ancient Egypt, where it was used, among other things, for the death mask of Tutankhamun. Due to the high demand in the Middle East, they were produced as early as the 13th century B.C. imitations made. Well-known, for example, are the cylinder seals from the city of Sidon of King Annipi and his father Adummu, which were given a dark blue color with cobalt salts. Lapis lazuli was also ground into the blue pigment ultramarine, which was highly prized in Renaissance painting.