May, 2002
New Beryls from Pakistan and Nigeria
I'm happy to present this exclusive selection of very unique aquamarine specimens from a new find in Pakistan. These little guys are really attractive and unusual, and as far as I know, this is the only pocket to have been found. The aqua crystals have grown in sprays, which is always interesting, but the really cool thing about these is that many of the sprays are hemispheric. They remind me of the new apophyllites from India - sharp crystals of roughly the same length, arranged in little half-balls. I can't help but call them "flowers."
There are also a few really nice, new vanadian emeralds from Nigeria in this update. They're very sharp, nicely colored crystals with fabulous terminations. I hope you like them!
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Aquamarine with Quartz & Mica A nice plate of small quartz crystals with a neat little bowtie-shaped spray of aquamarine nestled between two somewhat "melted" mica (?) books. There is also a larger, partial quartz crystal presiding over the festivities.
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Aquamarine with Quartz One of the largest aqua "flowers" in the lot, this 3x4 cm cluster is a real beauty. It rests in the middle of a triangular plate of small quartz crystals and a little feldspar. There are a couple of small dings among the aquas, but they don't detract from the overall aesthetics and uniqueness of the specimen.
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Aquamarine with Quartz An extremely attractive arrangement of a perfect, 2.5 cm aqua "flower" on both clear and white quartz crystals and a small number of feldspar crystals. There is also a small book of brown, melted-looking mica. Superb!
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Aquamarine with Quartz This is the largest of these unusual specimens, and consists of an interesting chunk of extremely coarse, dense pegmatite core (quartz, snow-white feldspar, tiny mica crystals and schorl). On the cavity-facing side of the specimen, the quartz crystals are terminated, and there is a gorgeous, light blue-green, 3.5 cm cluster of aquamarine that is completely damage-free. Some might prefer to trim this down to a killer miniature - I must admit it's tempting, but I kinda like it the way it is. Anyway, it would be easy to trim due to the coarseness of the matrix. Keep it big or make it smaller - either way it is a wonderful, totally unique aquamarine specimen.
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Emerald (vanadian) A very gemmy, sharp and rare emerald crystal. The first of a very small lot that came out this year, this specimen has a super bullet-shaped termination, some interesting inclusions, and practically glows with that unmistakable, bright emerald color. 5.16 carats, but please don't cut it!
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Emerald (vanadian) Another rare Nigerian beryl. This one is a little bigger, a little cloudier, a little deeper in color, and has a fascinating, super-complex termination. Beautiful. 10.74 carats, in case you were curious.
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Emerald (vanadian) This one is even more unusual than the others for two reasons - the sharp, killer termintation, and the color banding. The crystal has several areas of much deeper green that are hard to see in the pics, but very apparent in person. A great little crystal weighing in at 8.82 carats, but you weren't thinking about THAT, were you...
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Emerald (vanadian) The last of this small find is another sharp, green bullet. Like all these, it's rare to find emeralds of any kind in crystals this sharp, and especially with such wonderful, modified terminations. And just for the record, this one is 9.52 carats.
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Aquamarine with Quartz This specimen is actually several clusters of aquamarine on and around a few small, sharp quartz crystals. A lovely specimen that displays very nicely from many different angles.
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Aquamarine A tight cluster of aquamarines "towering" over a matrix of feldspar and tiny mica, kind of like a tiny blue haystack on top of a really tiny mountain.
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Aquamarine A couple of small aqua clusters radiating in 2 different directions, on a base of fine feldspar matrix. Nifty little specimen!
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Aquamarine This one may be the best example of the unusual nature of these "flowers." From the front, it is a very round hemisphere of aqua crystals. From the back, it is very evident that all the crystals originate at a single point in the center of the circle. There is an area near the "bottom" where the aqua terminations are contacted. A great example of this unique habit.
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Aquamarine A beautiful, small, tight cluster of aquas radiating from a base of feldspar. Another great example of this crystal habit.
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Aquamarine Another small, somewhat looser cluster of crystals. Very nice large
thumbnail specimen.
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Aquamarine with Quartz A very aesthetic arrangement of one large aqua "flower" rising from the base of a white matrix of small quartz crystals. A very attractive specimen. Has a small contacted area, but great aesthetics that I really didn't manage to capture in the pictures.
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Aquamarine with Quartz A nice matrix of quartz and mica, with an interesting series of aqua clusters all radiating from a central point. This one is not a complete hemisphere, but that somehow makes it more interesting.
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Aquamarine with Quartz A terribly interesting, attractive specimen. This one is about a quarter-sphere of aquamarines pointing up, toward the matrix which includes a quartz crystal pointing straight back down at the aquas. Or vice versa. It displays nicely upside down, too. Or is that right side up?
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Aquamarine with Quartz Definitely one of the best of the bunch, this one features a beautiful series of aqua clusters erupting from a base of clear quartz and feldspar matrix. The aqua crystals are almost all damage-free, and the stairstep effect when viewing the specimen from the side is wonerful. Remember those old photos of the basalt formation in Scotland called the "Devil's Stepping Stones" or some such thing, that appeared in all the elementary geology textbooks? Well, this looks like that. Except this is beautiful. And blue. And little.
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Aquamarine A super toenail specimen of this unusual beryl habit. This specimen is a nearly perfect aqua flower, free of matrix and with just the tiniest area of contact at one "corner." This one is the best of the smaller, matrix-free specimens from the find. And almost a keeper for me!
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Aquamarine The last one!(?) This one is a nice thumbnail example at a nice price. Like many of them, this one has a small contacted area on one side, but the color and crystal habit are excellent. A nice specimen that would also look great wrapped in silver, dangling from some beautiful person's neck!
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