Aquamarine, Muscovite on Albite

Item Description

Jack Halpern collected minerals from the beginning of the first few specimens to trickle out of Asia, until recently. He saw Pakistani aquamarines come out, warm up, and keep coming out over decades since the 1980s when they stunned the existing mineral world. Nevertheless, along the way, he acquired some very special pieces, keeping his eyes open for specimens that were not the biggest or the most valuable, but that met his exacting eye for beauty and balance when possible. He loved little jewels like this, where you had clean upright crystals on 360-degree matrix. Jack also loved this size in his later years (specimen #4076!) because the shelves got crowded and did not leave room for larger pieces to be squeezed in. Some shelves were honestly so crowded that the minerals almost touched! This gem aquamarine is 5.5 cm tall, although some of that is hidden by the flowery roseate cluster of shimmery silvery muscovite mica blades. 3.7 centimeters of the gemmy crystal stand fully above the "nest" of mica. All of this is beautifully perched on a contrasting matrix of stark white, geometric albite crystals. It is a truly lovely specimen with unique aesthetics. Honestly, it seemed pricey to me when Jack purchased it from another dealer in the 2000s; but then again it has a precision, machined, clean look that he just loved to hold - even amongst 4000 existing specimens. And, that particular fancy style that you see here is rare - always was, always will be.