And now for something different, unusual, and mysterious. This is a blue quartz designer cabochon. The mystery? Well when we bought the very cool slabs in quartzsite we were told the material was kyanite. Well, it isn't. So the next question was whether it was natural or dyed since the color is so unusual especially given that the stones are partially translucent. On close examination by our resident gemologist (my partner who also used to work in the lab at GIA) we determined it is not dyed and is we are certain natural. So what is it? We know for sure it is quartz mainly due to its refractive index. So it is blue quartz. But where is it from? Of that we are not completely certain. Our research has revealed there is material called blue quartz and a "blue aventurine" which is basically saying the same thing since aventurine is quartz. We see some of the material is coming from Brazil and some from other places including India and or Nepal. Our conclusion though is that it is likely dumortierite in quartz.