Gerard McCabe Jewellers have long been enamoured with the essence and rarity of Mount Kilimanjaro’s famous gem: tanzanite.
The highest mountain in Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro stands at a height of 19,741 feet, and is host to three volcanic cones, Mawenzi, Shira, and Kibo. With such mineral-rich soil at the mountain’s foothills, vitalising the enthralling landscape of Northern Tanzania, this area is the only deposit of tanzanite known to exist.
A symbol of vitality, intuition, and new beginnings, tanzanite asserts a playful spirit we simply cannot resist. As a result, our Kilimanjaro collection began, in the early 2010s, as an homage to the glory of tanzanite. Completely unique and like nothing else, each design embodies an essence of fun and adventure.
“It’s a gemstone like no other. That’s for sure.” - Managing Director, Justin McCabe.
Late last year, our design team embarked on an exciting journey of their own to reinvigorate the collection with designs as monumental as the mountain itself.
Now more curated than ever, with the arrival of not one, not two, but three new, one-of-a-kind designs, Kilimanjaro has taken on a whole new level of wonder! An expression of the union between land and sky, the bold and the blue, under a crown of sparkling cloud, Kilimanjaro represents a force that is truly larger than life.
For our Design Director, Nazanin, these monumental stones are not only captivating in their appearance, but in their incredible size. “It’s so inspiring to bring the mountain into these pieces of jewellery…it feels like you’re wearing a piece of the world.”
While each design boasts its own unique setting and style, they each share the sparkle of a premium diamond halo.
Making up this exciting trio is a 6.65ct oval-cut tanzanite ring, a 15.61ct trillion-cut tanzanite pendant, and a second ring, which features a 16.05ct cushion-cut tanzanite. To complement the deep blue and violet hues in each gem, all three designs are crafted in 18ct white gold. These incredible stones, which oscillate between shades of blue and purple, are one of nature’s true spectacles.
These particular gemstones are “top gem quality,” says our Managing Director, Justin McCabe. “That’s hard to find, and even harder to find here in Australia. We searched far and wide to find specimens as lovely as these; something that really catches the eye.”
Truly, the rarity of tanzanite cannot be underestimated. Not only is the single tanzanite deposit in Tanzania only 5 km long, but it is estimated to be depleted within the decade.
“Tanzanites are extremely rare. I think that, in itself, makes tanzanite a really special gem to work with. We’ve been fortunate enough to have worked with [tanzanite] for as long as we’ve been a business.” - Justin McCabe.
Enthralled as we are? Discover the full collection here, alongside these three exciting new arrivals, in-store and online today.