Larimar is found in only one place in the world - one square kilometer in the Dominican Republic - making it one of the rarest gemstones in the world. It is thought to be 20 times rarer than tanzanite. 

blue pectolite

Larimar, a volcanic stone is actually a form of pectolite.  Although pectolite are to be had in nearly every hemisphere, none have the unique volcanic blue coloration of Larimar. This makes it one of the rarest novelties known.  Pectolite is normally gray or white.  Yet, Larimar is a beautiful blue pectolite.  It is interesting to ponder the fact that the series of events that created this beautiful blue wonder have only occurred one time, in one place throughout the history of the world!

Larimar's beautiful colors mirror the blue and white shades of the ocean and sky. No two stones are alike, each piece is unique, with its own natural beauty.

1st "discovered" in 1974

This gemstone was first discovered in 1974 by an American Peace Corp. worker and a Dominican geologist, Miguel Mendez, although the inhabitants and their ancestors at the location were long aware of the stone. They had once traveled upstream until they came up against a rock formation that seemed to be the source of this blue precious stone, and subsequently gathered the stones on the beach for decades.

 The name "Larimar" was given to the stone by Miguel Mendez, combining his daughter's name LARIssa and MAR the Spanish word for sea.

the atlantis stone

The stone is also called the Atlantis Stone.  A very strong defender of the notion that part of Atlantis could be found in the Caribbean was the psychic Edgar Cayce (1877 - 1945). For this reason, many look at Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic) as a remnant of sunken Atlantis.

Cayce predicted that on one of the Caribbean islands a blue stone would be found with extraordinary healing attributes!

mining
Mining the stone is extremely difficult.  Not only does the location of the mines make them extremely difficult to access but the area is subject to the hurricane season, often causing the mines to be closed for 5 months out of the year.  Also, it is believed by some that the mines may run dry in the next 8 to 10 years.

grading

There are several factors typically used to grade the stone, with color and patterning being the primary ones:

  1. Color – the deeper, "volcanic" blues are considered to be "best".
     
  2. Patterning – the richer, more interesting, the better.
  3. Luster - is it glossy?
     
  4. Luminosity - does it seem to "glow" or have an inner light?
     
  5. Clarity - is it free of obvious defects? (Pits, cracks, carbon deposits, etc.)
     
  6. Translucence - can light pass thru a portion of the stone?
     
  7. Chatoyance - a luminous band with a silky luster (like that typical of cat's-eye).

There is no one particular factor that determines the grade; it is a combination of factors. The depth of color alone may not "make or break" the grade; the pattern and luminosity may bring up the grade of a stone whose color may not be as deep as others.

pricing of Larimar

Why does the price of Larimar vary so much?

quality
As with everything else, the higher the quality of the Larimar, the higher its price. Or, like the saying goes, you get what you pay for.

size and weight

A big factor in the price of Larimar is the weight of stone. On Ebay, it can be difficult to make sure that one is comparing apples to apples.  What looks like it could be a big Larimar stone in a picture, may actually be quite small when compared to another.
Some Ebay Sellers measure their stones in carat weight, others give gram weight. A cynical person might say that giving the weight of the stone in carats (as opposed to grams) gives the impression that the stones

are bigger than they really are, because there are five carats in one gram. For example, a stone weight of 25 carats is actually just 5 grams (which is a relatively small stone). When deciding between stones, make sure that you are comparing carat weight to carat weight or gram weight to gram weight.

Another factor that impacts the price of Larimar jewelry is the quality of the silver and silverwork. Silverwork that is pitted and/or lacks shine and uniformity should be priced lower than good quality silverwork.

difficult excavation

The stone must be mined by hand; dynamite or heavy machinery can destroy it. So excavation is extremely labor intensive. Miners, using only hand tools, must find and follow the small veins of Larimar. The best quality stone is often found as far as one hundred feet below the surface; digging through all that rock by hand obviously takes quite a bit of time.

Then there is the rain. The torrential rainfall during the five-month hurricane season often shuts down the mines. Sometimes the mines flood and the mountain can unleash devastating mudslides. These factors contribute further to the difficulty of extraction, and limit the supply of the stone even further.

Once the rock is excavated, it is cut and graded. Generally, less than 10% is of jewelry quality. And much, much less would be considered "AAA," or anything close to that.

If so much Larimar on Ebay is "AAA," why is there such a difference in price?

The term "AAA Larimar" is bandied about quite freely on Ebay.  In actuality, most Larimar identified on Ebay as "AAA" is not even close to AAA.

"AAA Larimar"
 per Ebay Vendor 5/19/06

True AAA Larimar

Some ask why Larimar is so expensive, the real question might be, "why isn’t Larimar more expensive?"