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Zoisite
Zoisite is a calcium aluminium hydroxy sorosilicate belonging to the epidote group of minerals. Zoisite is named after the Slovene scientist Baron Sigmund Zois von Edelstein, who realized that this was an unknown mineral when it was brought to him by the mineral dealer Simon Prešern, who had discovered it in the Saualpe mountains of Carinthia in 1805. Zoisite was first known as saualpite, after its type locality. Transparent material is fashioned into gemstones while translucent-to-opaque material is usually carved into sculptural works. The latter is sometimes shot through with ruby crystals, which are completely opaque and unsuited to use as gems, yet are well colored and contrast strikingly against the green matrix of the zoisite.
Zoisite may be blue to violet, green, brown, pink, yellow, gray, or colorless.
Sources of zoisite include Tanzania (tanzanite), Kenya (anyolite), Norway (thulite), Switzerland, Austria, India, Pakistan, and Washington in the USA.
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