Thassos Marble
Thassos marble is in high demand across the world due to it being the purest of white marbles. The name Thassos marble derives from the island in the Aegean Sea where it is uniquely quarried from open pit quarries . This island has been famous for its beautiful pure white marble since approximately 700BC when a colony from Paros1 settled on the island of Thassos2.
Most of the quarrying on the island has taken place in the quarries of Alyki3, on the southern side of the island. The marble extracted here has been shipped to all corners of the world. Thassos marble has been used in all types of applications from cladding and flooring to luxury furniture such as exclusive white marble coffee tables. This snow white marble has even been used in the construction of both temples and monuments.
Although Thassos marble is commonly used to describe any of the white marble which comes from the Island of Thassos it is important to understand there are different categories of marble which are quarried in this island.
For the traditional pure white Thassos marble which is officially referred to as Snow White there are several categories. Starting from Thassos Extra which is the purest white marble going down to Thassos Commercial.
These marbles all share the following properties, they are hard and take an extremely good polish resulting in a mirror like finish.
Below we look at these categories in more detail.
Thassos Extra: Thassos Extra is the finest quality Thassian marble. This category of Thassos marble has almost perfect clarity without any veins or shadows.
Thassos Classico (A1): This category of marble is snow white with very few transparent crystals across the surface.
Thassos Waterfall (A2): This category of marble has a pure white background but you will find some light grey shadowing and large crystals across the surface of the stone.
Thassos Crystal (A3): Thassos crystal as it names suggest has a range of transparent crystals across the surface of the stone. The background of this stone is pure white.
Thassos High Commercial: This category of Thassos marble has a pure white background with a few pinholes, grey veining or shadows across the surface.
Additionally, there is Thassos Prinos. This marble is the same as Thassos Snow white varieties but is differentiated from them in the way in which it is cut. This type of marble is vein cut. This means the slabs are cut from the side of the block rather from the top of the block. Thassos Prinos has a snow-white background with grey crystal veins throughout.
As with all design matters there is no category which is truly better than the other. The price of Thassos Extra is higher due to scarcity of supply and a higher demand. Some people will prefer a pure white look for their projects such as for pure a white marble dining table whilst others would like a more natural stone look with some veining and shadowing.
Below you can see a Thassos marble quarry where this beautiful white marble is excavated from.
When compared to all the marbles in the world Sivec marble and Vietnamese White marble are the only materials which can come close to rivalling Thassos for being the purest of whites.
The Macedonian marble Sivec has a small grain like Thassos but it’s graining is slightly greyer when compared to the graining of Thassos marble.
Whereas Vietnamese White marble has a similar pure white colour as Thassos but has considerable deposits throughout. This makes Thassos superior than Vietnamese White for clarity.
When you look at the criteria of a clean marble and a pure white colour collectively Thassos is the clear winner. And then when you add in the illustrious history of Thassos marble it extends its position as the world’s leading pure white marble even further.
Thassos marble is truly the premium pure white marble on the planet.
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