Chemical composition -- Beryllium magnesium aluminate with additional metals.
Color -- Mauve, reddish violet, brownish-purple, pink, red, blue.
Optics -- R.I 1.71-1.72.
Durability -- Hardness 8-8.5.
Crystal structure -- Hexagonal.
Specific Gravity -- 3.60-3.71.
Sources -- Taafeite is one of the rarest and most desirable of collector's stones. Only a very few stones have been found, most of them originally misidentified as spinel, and Sri Lanka (Ceylon) appears to be the only known source.