Beryl var: Aquamarine with Muscovite

Item Description

Believe it or not, for a long time in world of mineral collecting, it was difficult to find good matrix display specimen of Aquamarine. Most of the crystals available for many years were from old classic localities in places like Russia, Brazil, etc., and they were loose singles, with no matrix. Then in the 1990s we started seeing beautiful matrix Aquas from places like Shigar, Pakistan, and Erongo, Namibia 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 (like Morganite), and instantly recognizable for that trait. This particular piece features a rich coverage of very sharp, lustrous, gemmy, soft blue color, thick, yet unusually tabular hexagonal crystals of Aquamarine measuring up to 4.7 cm across, associated with compressed, bladed, silvery Muscovite and minor white (partially iron stained) Albite crystals on matrix. It's rare to find tabular Aquamarine crystals from any locality, let alone such fine quality examples like this in a large cabinet display specimen! The quality is very good all around, with only a tiny bit of roughness that I can see. A great display quality association specimen from this unique locality. PLEASE NOTE: The color in the video is not indicative of the true color in person, as the piece has much more of a true blue color, than the slightly grey/colorless shade in the video. Priced at $4,000 retail in our inventory. Ex Dr. Stephen Smale Collection. Along with amassing one of the finest private mineral collections in the world, Steve is a renowned mathematician. His accomplishments include being awarded the Fields Medal in 1966 along with being the awarded the Wolf Prize in mathematics in 2007. You can read Steve's bio on the Mineralogical Record website ( https://mineralogicalrecord.com/biographies_labels/smalestephen/ ) or on Wikipedia