Beryl var: Aquamarine (with rare darker blue ''caps'') (New Find - 2024)

Item Description

From a brand new discovery in early 2024, here we have a unique and certainly eye-catching specimen of Aquamarine from Afghanistan (not Pakistan) featuring a few sharp, lustrous, rather gemmy, hexagonal crystals of light blue colored Aquamarine, but what makes this one special is that the two main crystal features notably darker blue colored "caps" on the terminations. When you rotate the piece in the light, you can see that the dark blue area actually shows a slight almost chatoyant "cat's eye" quality, not typically seen in Beryls from anywhere in Afghanistan or Pakistan for the matter. The stronger blue shade is also repeated in other parts of the specimen, even down to the other end, which is actually re-crystallized ("re-healed"), making the piece a doubly-terminated group. A bit of attached Albite and Muscovite can be seen on the piece as well for a nice touch. Overall it's in good shape and looks better in person than the video might indicate. Bi-colored Beryls are not terribly common around the world, but to find a piece with such a distinctive and richly colored variance in hue is definitely out of the ordinary. It's hard to say if there will be more of these, so if you collect gem crystals, pegmatite minerals or worldwide Beryls, don't pass up the chance to get your hands on something that stands out from the many Aquas from Pakistan on the market.
Specimen weight is 50.8 grams. Valued $2,000.