Charoite - From Russia With Love

Charoite is another type of rock that as far as we know can only be found in one place on earth - along the Chara River in Siberia. It is unlikely that the same geological prerequisites have occured elsewhere. It is found where a syenite (the Murunskii Massif) has intruded into and altered limestone deposits producing a potassium feldspar metasomatite, all according to Wikipedia.

During the Soviet Union it was very little known outside the walls, except for one of a kind urns and vases in palaces, and it was not until relatively recently that it has begun to be used in jewelry making. It's sometimes used in "palaces" nowadays, too, like this luxury hotel bathroom. (I like cahroite, but that bathroom would be chopped onto cab.sized pieces if I owned it.)

It's hard to come by. At least if you want the real deal. I'm looking for it n the usual places like eBay and Etsy, and I would say that 80% of what is claimed to be charoite is not so. It's amethyst, dyed agate or jasper, dyed marble or what looks to be actual plastic. The 20 percent left is of varying quality. And it seems you can't even go by price because some quite boring pieces still have a high enough price.
I have a slab of one-sidedly polished rough at home, a gift from my husband. I have managed to aly my hands on a few nice nuggets that I might be able to do something with, and some rondelles. And some fakes. Fortunately, my fakes instead proved to be some really nice chevron amethyst that had been mislabeled. And I like amethyst, too.