Raw Shungite Pendant Necklace

A rough piece of shungite, drilled and hung on black cord.

Shungite is not a crystal but a rock, black as coal and one of the oldest stones ever cut for wearing, close to two billion years old. It comes from the Karelia region of north-west Russia and takes its name from the village of Shunga. It is mostly carbon, which gives it a dull sheen where the surface has worn smooth and a matt black in the fractures. In Russian folk tradition it was kept as a stone of protection and steadiness, a plain dark thing worn against whatever the day brought.

Each piece is a natural fragment, sold by weight rather than shape, so the one you receive will not match the photo. Worn under a shirt through a working week, or by someone who has never worn a stone and wants to start with one that does not look like jewellery.