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Larimar is a rare variety of pectolite found only in the Caribbean island of the Dominican Republic. Pectolite is an acid silicate hydrate of calcium and sodium, and the rare blue color of Larimar comes from cobalt substituting calcium. Ranging from light green-blue to deep blue, it is considered an ornamental and semi-precious stone. The first documented discovery of the stone dates to 1916, by Father Miguel Domingo Fuertes Loren. Permission to explore this new vug was denied to Father Loren, but luckily Miguel Mendez and Norman Rilling rediscovered the stone in 1974. These men named the blue pectolites “Larimar” by combining the name of Mendez’s daughter, Larissa, and the Spanish word for sea, mar. Good Larimar stones resemble the surface of the beautiful Caribbean ocean where they are found.
