Lot 8
LARGE SPECIMEN OF LAPIS LAZULI
SAR-I-SANG, AFGHANISTAN
Auction: 28 May 2026 from 13:00 BST
Description
deep blue, cut and polished, with thin veining and pyrite deposits
Dimensions
Weight: 8758g
Height: 28.8cm
Footnote
A large and impressive specimen of lapis lazuli from the historic Sar-i-Sang mines, Badakhshan, Afghanistan.
This historic source, worked for over 6,000 years, has produced some of the finest lapis lazuli known. Material from the Sar-i-Sang mines travelled along ancient trade routes to Mesopotamia and Egypt, where it was prized for its intense celestial-blue colour and symbolic association with the heavens and divinity. Used in jewellery, amulets, carvings, and later ground to create the precious pigment ultramarine, lapis lazuli has long been regarded as one of the most coveted ornamental stones of the ancient world.