important, unusual tabular Aquamarine on Feldspar (Meieran Coll.)

Item Description

This LOOKS at first like a miniature sized specimen with a blue apatite on top but is not! Here again, we see a gem aquamarine specimen in the vast holdings of the Gene Meieran collection that is extremely surprising, different, and beautiful. He collected gem pegmatite minerals for 40 years, minerals for more than 60, and specialized in aquamarines since the 1990s until now (he is still going strong!). I have never seen so much variety in beryl, in one collection or one place. Gene obtained these over decades, many directly from the source or the dealers who travel there. Note that this is from Afghanistan, NOT from Pakistan where we all see so much aquamarine, and it is infinitely more rare. He has a keen eye for the unusual, and that is what makes pieces like this, and the collection, so important. As much aquamarine as we see, we do not see things that look like this. It looks like a hexagonal blue gem sculpture, just perched in beautiful white matrix. The main crystal is 7 x 4 x 2.5 cm (about 3 inches long and an inch thick, just under two inches tall for those who prefer normal American units of size here). Remarkably, given the dramatic exposure of the crystal, there are no repairs! It is also a 360 degree specimen, complete all around, with no significant damage of note. It has a few small dings, which could easily be filled (restored) in a lab, to smooth the surface - but in context, they were negligible and so the work was never done. Personally, I do believe it would improve in lab, and it is simply a unique specimen in so many ways. It is simply dramsatic, because of the size, shape, orientation, and color....in a way that most aquamarines from here are not. Note that the color changes slightly from LED to fluorescent lighting and actually looks good in any lighting, just perhaps a little more intensely colored in fluorescent room lights while more sparkly in LED. It is probably one of the best of this style of "morganite looking aquas" from Afghanistan. As Gene's tastes change to big gem single crystals and the collection needs to be trimmed down in size, a whole suite of these amazing aquamarines were let go, to find new homes. Valued $20-25,000 by previous owner, this is a showstopping, important, DIFFERENT specimen with unique aesthetics.