Aquamarine (unusual habit - rare locale)

Item Description

East of the Inland Empire of Southern California, lies the California Blue Mine in Yucca Valley, a pegmatite locality that had produced some attractive Quartz, Feldspar, Topaz and Beryl specimens over the years. Crystals of Aquamarine are occasionally seen on the market from this locale, and they range from vibrant blue and WATER CLEAR to a pale blue hue and virtually translucent in clarity. This piece is one of the more unique examples I've seen from this mine as it is notably tabular / compressed along one axis, giving the appearance of a species like Barite or Celestine. Make no mistake, it's actually Beryl, and it has an alluring almost "smoky" blue color to make it all the more enticing. The basal termination has a slight amount of white "cat's eye" growth, which gives way to a very gemmy section at the top of the crystal, and eventually tapers down to a more narrow pointed shape at the base. The tapered area may appear broken from the photos, but it's actually crystallized in areas, and has a contact growth where it grew up against the pocket, so none of it is actual damage, it just didn't completely finish crystallizing. Another important aspect of the specimen is that the crystal faces are notably sharp and smooth, which is rare for this material and many of the Aquas I've seen from this mine are etched, sometimes rather heavily. If you collect gem crystals, general Beryls or minerals from Southern California, do not miss out on this interesting and rarely seen specimen. From the collection of Robert (Bob) Reynolds who passed in August of 2020. 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.