Beryl var: Emerald (classic Russian locality)

Item Description

These old classic Emeralds are some of the most well-known examples of the material from the early days of mineral collecting. You'll sometimes see them labeled as coming from "Tokovaya / Tokovaja", and even the old label accompanying this piece simply states it's from "Siberia". With that said, the correct locality is the Malyshevo area in the Sverdlovsk Oblast of Russia. This piece is a fine old specimen with well-formed, smooth, lustrous prism faces, and it's even doubly-terminated to boot! The piece has a fantastic saturated chrome green color and it GLOWS when backlit. Attached, pseudo-metallic schist matrix can be seen in a few spots, easily identifying it as coming from Malyshevo. Fine quality all around, very good sized for the locality, and incredibly hard to find on the market today. Valued $5,000-$6,000.
From the collection of Bill ("Burma Bill") Larson of Fallbrook, California. Bill is a well-known gem and mineral dealer (Pala International) as well as a miner and collector. Bill traveled the world for decades in search of fine gems and minerals, and was directly involved in the in-person acquisition and importation of superb specimens from many important gem-producing localities. You can read his biography at https://mineralogicalrecord.com/biographies_labels/larsonwilliam-f/ . The piece comes with a fantastic old hand-written label from French mineralogist Jean Béhier (the namesake for the rare borate Béhierite). He died in 1965, so the label alone is AT LEASAT 60 years old, and the crystal itself could date back as far as the 1800s.