61.50 Ct. Cabochon Lapis from Afghanistan

In the hush between dusk and the first star, a single color can feel like a memory, a hush of ocean and midnight woven together, and this cabochon blue lapis from Afghanistan carries that hush in its heart. Weighing 61.50 carat, shaped into a generous oval of 40.17 x 30.21 x 6.19 mm, it rests like a fragment of the evening sky made tangible, an opaque jewel whose vivid color intensity commands attention. The hue is a saturated, pure blue that seems to breathe, a depth without shadow, punctuated by whispered flecks of golden pyrite that scatter like constellations across the surface. Polished to an excellent finish, each curve of the stone catches and returns light with a balm like moonlight on still water, and in its surface there is an invitation to linger, to place it against skin and feel the cool, unspoken story of the earth within your palm.

The cabochon cut is a poet of light, and on this piece it sings. Unlike faceting that fractures and returns light as sparks, the smooth domed plane of a cabochon allows the color to resolve into a singular, velvety field, and this is especially true for an opaque gem such as lapis. The rounded top allows light to travel gently across the surface, enhancing the perception of depth, as if the blue is layered in translucent folds within the stone. Surface reflection becomes the primary language, and here the excellent polish is crucial, because a mirror like finish guides light in broad, mellow strokes, producing a soft glow that seems to come from below the surface rather than merely bouncing off it. The cabochon shape also tends to centralize the eye, focusing attention on the vivid color intensity and the natural distribution of pyrite inclusions, which catch the light like flecks of sun on a deep sea, offering small, bright punctuation against the azure field. In practical terms, the cut minimizes light leakage that would otherwise thin the appearance of the color, it maximizes color saturation by presenting the broadest possible field to the observer, and it enhances the tactile pleasure of the gem when set into a ring or pendant, because the dome fits to the rhythm of a heartbeat, smoothing transitions between metal and stone.

There is an honesty to this lapis worth celebrating, a provenance that sings through its color and texture, and at The Natural Gemstone Company we honor that honesty. This oval cabochon, of natural origin from Afghanistan, is untreated, no enhancement, and that truth is part of its romance. The stone carries the geological signature of its birthplace, a land where ancient formations hold color in layers and metallic minerals strike through like bright threads. The dimensions, 40.17 x 30.21 x 6.19 mm, give the gem a presence that is both commanding and intimate, suitable for a statement ring that feels like an heirloom, or a pendant that rests near the heart like a secret kept in color. Skilled hands have shaped and polished it with respect for the material, preserving its natural opacity while coaxing a luminous surface, and in that process the cabochon form was chosen to best express the lapis character, to let the vivid blue breathe freely and the pyrite glints to converse with light rather than compete with it.

Imagine this lapis embraced by warm gold, held by cool silver, or framed in a bezel that echoes the soft oval, each setting amplifying the interplay of light across its dome, and making a promise that is as much about feeling as appearance. Let the stone become a companion for vows whispered in low rooms and for days when a small flash of blue steadies the heart, a token that carries origin, hands, and sky. At The Natural Gemstone Company we offer not only the lapis itself, but the story of its making and the assurance of natural character, no enhancement, just the original voice of the mine transformed into a wearable poem. If you seek a gemstone that reflects light with quiet grandeur, that uses its cut to deepen color and to make each golden speck into a tiny sun, this 61.50 carat Afghan oval cabochon waits to be set into the memory you will build around it, polished to an excellent finish, alive with color, ready to catch your light.