MQA58 Beryl var. Aquamarine
Befotaka Sud District, Atsimo-Atsinanana Region, Fianarantsoa Province, Madagascar
6.9x 3.4x 2.4 cm
$3600
A beautiful, terminated aquamarine with a greenish tinge, from Madagascar. This piece comes from a recently discovered pocket that produced a small quantity of excellent heliodors and aquamarines. Some are obviously one or the other, this one is somewhere in between.
There is some sub-surface pocket dirt, mainly on the back.
This was my fourth trip to the country, and I had only ever come away with a few beryl samples, usually nothing particularly gemmy. With that said, good beryl specimens are not common from Madagascar-- in fact, the last time I know of a decent pocket being discovered was almost 7 years ago.
It is somewhat difficult to get the color right in the pictures, so I have photographed it with a couple different backgrounds-- the super bright images are iPhone pictures in direct winter sunlight-- as you can see, the thing really glows if you light it correctly, and the effect can be recreated with a well-placed LED. I've taken pictures of both the display side (cleaner) and the back.
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