POLISHED ANGELITE

Angelite is the trade name for a a semi-transparent, glacier blue to lilac-colored variety of anhydrite. Anhydrite is an evaporite mineral that occurs in extensive deposits where large volumes of sea water have been evaporated, or as a vein-filling mineral in hydrothermal deposits. It is often associated with other evaporative minerals such as halite and gypsum.

Deposits of angelite were first discovered in Peru in 1987. It has since been mined for use as a lapidary material. The stone is quite soft and is often found with white specks and orange-brown inclusions within small cracks throughout.