It eluded a Spanish missionary. It was the beach-found treasure of tribal fisherman. Finally, it took the eye of an artist to pursue the lure of the gemstone Larimar.
It has been noted that a Spanish missionary on the Island of Hispaniola came across the stone in 1916. Nothing ever came of his request to mine and he was sent back to Spain. Larimar remained cloaked in mystery, with no mention of it until the 1950s.
A few writings note that a small fishing village collected a blue gem found washed up the beach. Yet it took yet another 20 years for anyone to investigate further: a local artisan who used the stone in his creations. With so few to be found as he combed the beach, he enlisted the help of locals to search nearby tributaries for a glimpse of blue. Finally, success: an outcropping of the elusive blue wonder was finally revealed.
The artist named the stone after his beautiful young daughter LARissa and MAR, the Spanish word for sea. For many years, it was thought Larimar came from the sea, its colors and patterns so closely resembling the waters of the Caribbean.
