About the Art

From scintillating white granites to brilliant serpentines - red, green, purple, gray, yellow, and bright orange - stone from Zimbabwe is a visual catalog of incredible wealth of minerals. More than 250 individual and combinations of serpentine ore were found in Zimbabwe. It is a complex combination of these minerals, which create a colorful palette so unique to Zimbabwean carving stone.

The most common thread Material Serpentine, by 2.0 to 5.5 points on a scale of hardness scale. The much harder granite and ancient verdite brilliant green (3.6 billion years), 9.0-hardness approach contend that the rubies. Verdite, also known as the Green Gold of Africa, some artists are especially appreciated for its rich, deep emerald color and swirling strata.

Many of carving stones come from the mountains or near Nyanga Great Dyke, a volcanic ridge 310 miles through the countryside and the longest linear mass of volcanic rocks in the world. 2.5 billion-year-old Great Dyke Hills penetrated chromium, platinum, gold, copper, emeralds and other precious metals.

Heat and pressure were applied to this ancient rock for many years, creating unusual mineral, which are reflected in a huge variety of colors, shades and combinations of stones. Once believed to be the repository of the wealth of legendary Ophir, the dyke never yielded the dreamed-of mountains of gold. However, exquisite carving stone is plentiful in this region.