Aquamarine ex. David Michaels Coll.

Item Description

Nagar is the poor stepchild locality for Pakistani aquamarines compared to Shigar, in that people have lower expectations for gemminess and transparency in a Nagar aqua, than in a Shigar aqua. However, Nagar aquas have such nice sharp form, and a beautiful tendency to form large clusters, so we want them too! But few compete $ for $ with Shigar pieces if you also want clarity and gemminess in your specimen. This particular Nagar aqua, though, has a gemminess and clarity you would not expect to see from here, and so 3-dimensional and aesthetic, I think it transcends the usual. It features textbook-sharp, clean, seethru crystals to 5 cm and remarkably they are present in 2 slightly different habits (one an equant hexagonal termination and the other with all axes of different length, most unusual to see in combo). It is a superb small cab from the collection of David Michaels, a California collector active in the 90s. It was in the Irv Brown collection prior to that and so we can trace it back to some of the earlier pieces coming out of Nagar...and in my opinion it stands the test of time and there are not a lot better for my eyes than this one. It has always stood in my memory as one of the finest Nagar aquas for its size range, and without breaking the bank as larger pieces tend to do. Thus, I remembered the piece when I had the chance to buy this collection early last year and it came up again, having been off the market for nearly 10 years now. It was valued at $5000-6000.