Lapis Lazuli Tower 7cm to 18cm | Choose Your Piece

Description

Lapis lazuli tower, carved and polished into six sided points with flat cut bases. There are ten towers to choose from here: one large statement piece at 18cm, six smaller towers in classic deep and soft blues, and three paler towers in what is known as denim lapis. Each one is photographed on its own, and the letter in the dropdown matches the photo, so the tower you see is the tower you receive.

Choose your lapis lazuli tower

• Large, 18cm, 636g, £69. Broad horizontal bands of deep blue, richest through the upper half, with wide areas of grey and cream calcite and dense gold pyrite lower down. Tall and heavy enough to hold a corner of a room on its own.
• A, 10cm, 138g, £15. The deepest blue of the set. An almost solid royal blue runs the full length, with a pale seam of calcite and fine pyrite down one face.
• B, 8cm, 81g, £10. Soft denim blue banded with silver grey, and a fine golden brown vein running up towards the point.
• C, 7cm, 80g, £10. Pale sky blue with gold pyrite scattered over the whole body and a few larger patches through the middle.
• D, 8cm, 88g, £10. Bright cobalt blue at the point, breaking into white and grey calcite towards the base.
• E, 9cm, 94g, £12. Soft blue and silver grey in fine bands, with a sweep of white calcite through the middle and gold pyrite scattered along the darker lines.
• F, 9cm, 90g, £12. Rich royal blue on the front face, with streaks of gold pyrite and a pale calcite tip that catches the light.
• G, denim lapis, 9cm, 100g, £13. Pale periwinkle blue with a soft crystalline sheen, scattered with gold pyrite from the point down.
• H, denim lapis, 7cm, 55g, £8. Soft blue with a broad white calcite band running up one face, dotted with pyrite.
• I, denim lapis, 7cm, 55g, £8. Pale blue with grey speckles throughout and a few small flecks of pyrite.

Every tower is photographed as it is, under ordinary light and without lifting the blue. The deeply saturated solid blue seen in a lot of product photography is not what most lapis looks like in the hand, so the calcite and pyrite in each piece are shown clearly.

What is denim lapis?

Denim lapis is the name given to the paler end of lapis lazuli, where more calcite runs through the stone and softens the blue to a faded jeans colour. It is the same rock as the deeper blue pieces, with the same lazurite, calcite and pyrite, just in different proportions. Many people love it for that gentler, lighter look.

Lapis lazuli under UV light

Lapis lazuli is a rock rather than a single mineral. The blue comes from lazurite, the grey and white from calcite, and the gold from pyrite, with smaller amounts of other minerals mixed through. That mix is what makes lapis so interesting under an ultraviolet torch.

Under a longwave UV torch, the common 365nm kind, the deep blue stays dark while some of the paler areas can light up. Orange is the colour lapis is best known for, appearing as glowing patches or tiny sparks, and some pieces show yellow as well. Under shortwave UV, some lapis gives a soft bluish white glow instead.

Because every block is made up a little differently, the glow changes from piece to piece. The paler, calcite rich areas are often where the glow shows, so denim lapis is well worth a look under the torch too. Some towers light up along whole bands, some show a few bright points, and some barely react at all. It is a lovely way to see how much is going on inside the stone. Use any UV torch with care and never shine it towards anyone’s eyes.

Traditional correspondences

Lapis lazuli is one of the oldest worked stones there is. It was carved into jewellery and seals in the ancient world, and later ground into the ultramarine pigment that painters used for the deepest blues in their work.

The traditional associations have stayed remarkably consistent: truth, clear speech, and seeing something plainly rather than comfortably. It is usually worked with at the throat and the brow, and tends to be reached for when something needs saying rather than when something needs soothing. A lapis lazuli tower is a good choice for focus and direction, at a desk, by a doorway, or at the centre of a grid. It pairs well with clear quartz, sodalite or amethyst.

Correspondences are traditional and are offered as part of a practice, not as a substitute for medical or professional advice.

Caring for lapis lazuli

This part matters, because lapis is softer than most of the towers people buy. It sits around 5 to 5.5 on the Mohs scale, below quartz, so a quartz point or a set of keys will scratch it. Keep it away from harder stones on the same shelf.

Keep it away from water and anything acidic. The calcite reacts to acid, and the pyrite can mark if it stays damp. No water cleansing, no salt, no cleaning sprays. A dry soft cloth is all it needs.

Prolonged strong sunlight is best avoided as well. To cleanse, use sound, breath or moonlight.

What you receive

One lapis lazuli tower, the piece you choose from the dropdown, wrapped for the post and sent by Royal Mail Tracked.

Browse the rest of the crystal towers, or see everything currently in stock in lapis lazuli.

For the mineralogy behind the stone, Mindat holds the reference data on lapis lazuli.