Aquamarine on Muscovite

Item Description

There was a time not too terribly long ago when it was difficult to find good matrix display specimen of Aquamarine. Most of the crystals on the market were from Russia, Brazil, etc., and they were loose singles, with no matrix. Then in the 1990s we started seeing beautiful matrix Aquas from places like Pakistan, and shortly thereafter the Pingwu Mine in China started producing some of the most iconic Aquamarine crystals from any world locality. With the exception of Morganite, most Beryl varieties are found in elongated prismatic crystals, but the Pingwu Aquamarines are UNUSUALLY tabular, and instantly recognizable for that trait. This particular piece features a predominant, very sharp, lustrous, gemmy, soft blue color, unusually tabular hexagonal crystal of Aquamarine measuring 5.0 cm across, associated with a few minor accessory Aquamarine crystals along with chalky white Albite crystals compressed, bladed, silvery Muscovite on matrix. It's rare to find tabular Aquamarine crystals from any locality, let alone such fine quality examples like this! The quality is very good all around, with only a tiny bit of roughness that I can see. The piece sits beautifully on its own without the aid of a base or clay! A great display quality association specimen from this unique locality. Priced at $6,000 retail in our inventory. From the collection of Robert (Bob) Reynolds. Bob was a well-known fossil and mineral expert and former Curator of Earth Sciences at the San Bernardino County Museum in California. The rare phyllomanganate-chromate species Reynoldsite was named in his honor in 2011.