I have a question, which I am sure someone out there will know the
answer to – it’s what I like about this group!! A friend of mine
recently went to Grenada and while she was there, purchased a necklace
because she liked the stone. She was told that it is known as Larimer
– which neither one of us has ever heard of.
It is quite pretty – a polished cab – blue and white – looks almost
like white clouds in a blue sky that have been caught in one of those
glass snowstorm things you get when you are a kid. . . Couldn’t find
a reference to it in my Joel Arem’s Gems book.
Dear Laura Larimer is the gem form of the mineral pectolite and is
found only on the island of Dominica…it is very pretty and makes me
think of the fine Caribbean water meeting the sky.
Someone once brought us a piece of the same stuff to set. Can’t say
I can remember what the chemical composition actually was, but it only
seems to be available on the islands.
Laura…Larimar comes from the Dominican Republic (I used to live
there) and that is supposed to be the only place it’s found. The man
who discovered it named it after his daughter Laura and mar means sea
(where it was found). It is pectolite, I believe.
Larimar is a form of pectolite found in the Dominican Republic. It
takes a wonderful polish, but is tricky to cut and polish because it
is extremely heat sensitive and will “flake” if it gets too warm or
is handled to forcefully when polishing. I have a little more
and a picture of it on my site if you are interested
Nancy
Nancy Bernardine-Widmer
Bernardine Fine Art Jewelry
It is Larimar, blue pectolite, and comes exclusively from the
Dominican Republic. New Era Gems frequently has the rough, or we have
some and could create a cabochon for you if you like. It is a
beautiful combination of blue and white sometimes with red and black
inclusions. The material gets the blue from copper as many more
familiar materials do, but Larimar is translucent to transparent which
you do not see so frequently in turquoise, etc. Liz
THis is actually called Larimar (Petolite). You can run a web search
and find some info concerning this here is one link I pulled up that
provides some http://www.tradeshop.com/gems/pectolite.html
If you are looking for rough of this material you can find it at most
Rock Shows, but it is fairly price as this has come into vogue
recently and the prices have seemed to escalate somewhat. I have not
worked with this material so I have no personal experience on how it
cuts. I have heard that working with this material presents little to
no problem, but if anyone else has on cutting this
material feel free to correct me.
Hello Laura, Most likely someone will give you a technical
description, but I saw the stone for the first time this year at
Tucson. According to the vendors’ descriptions, Larimer was
discovered relatively recently (some decades ago) and only on one of
the Caribbean islands (Bahamas?). It has recently been commercially
mined and promoted. Indeed the stone is a lovely, sky blue with
white “clouds”. That’s about all I remember. Now I wish I’d paid
better attention or picked up a brochure. Judy in Kansas
Judy M. Willingham, R.S.
Extension Associate
221 Call Hall Kansas State Univerisity
Manhattan KS 66506
(785) 532-1213 FAX (785) 532-5681
“Larimar” is sometimes referred to as gem pectolite and that may be
how it is in Arem’s book. I X-rayed a number of samples in the 1980’s
and determined that it is indeed pectolite in a siliceous matrix.
Larimar is a fibrous form of the mineral pectolite coloured a more or
less robin’s egg blue, by, if I recall correctly, copper compounds. It
is mined in the Dominican Republic. The meeting of fibre bundles of
differing growth directions yields an attractive tortoiseshell of
white on blue; the fibres also give the stone a silky chatoyancy. It’s
somewhat difficult to cut, likes to break along the fibre bundles as
poorly felted nephrite jade does also.
I saw quite a lot of it in Tucson recently. I don’t know much about
it, except that it is found exclusively in the Dominican Republic. It
is remarkably beautiful. For more info, check out this URL http://www.teleport.com/~gonz0/stone.htm
Terry, I believe Dr. Woodruff in Gainesville Fl. is half owner of
this mine in the Dominican Republic…His Phone number is listed in
LJ under Lapidary Clubs. I believe he is the President of the
Gainesville Lapidary Club…Last time I spoke with him he had some
Larimar if any one is interested. Susan
Larimar is a natural blue/white stone from the Dominican Republic. It
is a form of pectolite and is often referred to as that in gem/mineral
books. It’s really uplifting stuff, a pleasure to wear and to design
with! Here’s a collection of jewelry made with it displayed on the
rough it was cut from: