MQA64 Beryl var. Heliodor
Befotaka Sud District, Atsimo-Atsinanana Region, Fianarantsoa Province, Madagascar
4.6x 1.5x 1.35 cm
$700
A terminated, gemmy, and deeply colored heliodor from Madagascar. This piece comes from a recently discovered pocket that produced a small quantity of excellent heliodors and aquamarines. Some crystals from the pocket were more blue or greenish, but this one is strongly heliodor.
Despite this being my fourth trip to the country, I had only ever come away with a few beryl samples previously. 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. That is not to say there have been none since, but I certainly haven't seen new examples in any quantity since then.
The color is somewhat difficult to get it right in the pictures, so I have photographed it with a couple different backgrounds-- the super bright image is an iPhone picture in direct winter sunlight.
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