Beryl var. Aquamarine with Muscovite

Item Description

This item is part of a special benefit auction for the Rice Museum of Rocks & Minerals (ricenorthwestmuseum.org). Items are either deaccessions from the museum's collection or were donated by generous supporters listed below.

Auction open April 1, 2021 through April 17, 2021.

Billing for this auction will occur on Monday, April 19, for payment using PayPal or credit card. Shipping will be billed at cost, or please contact brandy@mineralauctions.com if you'd like to plan on picking up items at future shows or during a stop through Dallas.

This is a beautiful, complete-all-around cluster of sparkling, highly lustrous aquamarine crystals from Nagar in Pakistan, with just enough muscovite to accent the crystals. UNusually, it has two generations of aquamarine together, with later smaller (and quite sparkly!) crystals perched like a nest amidst the larger crystals. It is good from several display angles, and unusually gemmy and colorful for this location as Nagar historically produced some great things, although today produces a generally average quality of aquamarine, often more gray or pale than a pleasing blue color. Specimens such as this are often priced by size and in this case, you should rather see it as a really interesting combination piece of several generations - the beauty is in the combination, not the size overall of the crystals per se. Amongst many modern pieces, this one would stand out as different.