Sodalite Tumbled Stone

Sodalite is a sodium aluminium silicate carrying chlorine in its lattice - Na₈(Al₆Si₆O₂₄)Cl₂ - and it gives its name to a whole mineral group. Lazurite, the blue of lapis lazuli, is a member of that group: the two stones are true kin.

The blue runs deep navy to violet-blue, veined and clouded with white calcite. Sodalite carries no pyrite, so there are no gold flecks - the choice between sodalite and lapis is navy against ultramarine, cloud against stars.

Mohs 5.5–6 - softer than the quartzes, close to lapis in care. Under ultraviolet light, many sodalites answer with a patchy orange glow: the lattice showing its chemistry.

Asked often

How is it different from lapis lazuli?
They are mineral kin - lazurite belongs to the sodalite group. Sodalite reads deeper navy, veined with white, and carries no pyrite; lapis carries the gold flecks. Character, not rank, decides between them.

Is the blue natural?
Yes. The colour sits in the crystal lattice itself - not a dye. The white veining is calcite, the stone’s own companion mineral.

Why was it named sodalite?
For the sodium in its composition, when it was described from Greenland specimens in 1811 - one of the early minerals named by chemistry rather than appearance.

How do I look after them?
Softer than quartz at Mohs 5.5–6. Wipe with a dry or barely damp cloth; keep them from soaking, scent, and hard knocks.

1. Carried in a pocket or a bag, or held in the hand.
2. Kept in a small dish, on a desk, or on a shelf - each stone is a little different.
3. Softer than quartz - wipe with a dry or barely damp cloth, and keep them from soaking and scent.

Each stone is tumble-polished and unique, so a set varies a little stone to stone. Many keep a stone where they will see it each day, or carry one in a pocket; that is a matter of preference.

Pocket stones to keep and carry, softer than quartz at Mohs 5.5–6. Wipe with a dry or barely damp cloth; keep them from soaking and scent, and spare them hard knocks.

• Stone: Sodalite · sodium aluminium silicate
• Hardness: Mohs 5.5–6
• Character Deep navy to violet-blue · white calcite veining
• Treatment: None · undyed
• Form: Tumbled stones · polished, each unique · sold in a set
• Origin: Brazil
• Care: Wipe with a dry or barely damp cloth · keep from soaking

Sodalite was described in 1811 from Greenland specimens and named for the sodium in its lattice - one of the first minerals to take its name from chemistry rather than from how it looked or where it lay. A stone of the modern science of minerals, wearing a very old colour.

After the royal tour of Canada in 1901, Ontario sodalite was shipped to London to line rooms at Marlborough House, and the trade has called that material Princess Blue ever since. The deep blue that once required a mountain in Afghanistan now had a second source - and a second story.