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The Beauty of BerylVarieties of this family of Jewels come in many different colours including pink which is called Morganite to yellow known as Heliodor and clear colourless Goshenite. A very rare form of red called Bixbite is extremely expensive and difficult to source therefore not often used in jewelry, however we are going to concentrate on the green and blue known as Emerald and Aquamarine respectively. Emerald... gets its beautiful green colour due to the presence of chromium and vanadium with the most sought after Jewels being a strong vibrant green with a touch of blue. Although quite a hard stone measuring between 7 and 8 on the Moh scale emerald does not take impact very well and can be brittle and easy to chip, with this in mind the Emerald cut came to be you will see most faceted stones have the corners cut away so they cannot be knocked easily, this method also shows off the gems colour and clarity very well. It is very rare indeed that you will come across a flawlees Emerald most usually have cracks or irregular colour patterns but very good examples of larger near perfect gems command a higher price than diamonds, if you hold a good quality stone and view it from different angles colour changing and clarity is unique. Gemstone quality Emeralds can be found in North Carolina within the United States with the finest green laced with blue coming from Colombia. Zambia also produces a very deep Emerald green stone which is extremely popular.
Aquamarine... is the blue variety of Beryl which has less flaws than its cousin the Emerald and therefore nowhere near as brittle it usually is cut in the same fashion with the corners removed, but this is to show off its lovely colour and clarity rather than to protect it from impact. Beautiful Aquamarine comes in sea green with sky blue and dark blue being the most sought after, as a rule of thumb the more blue that the stone has the more valuable it will be. If you hold a good example of this stone in your hand and rotate it slowly to view it from all angles you will see the blue colour flash in and then clear, a major influence on why so many people fall in love with Aquamarine. The largest example ever mined was in Brazil nearly 100 years ago weighing in at 110kg Aquamarine is the official state gem for Colorado and can be found there at the peak of Mount Antero. For a gemstone to be called precious it must be durable, you don't want to be afraid to wear it for fear of damage and it must have beauty and rarity that you have to go out of your way to obtain.
Aquamarine
certainly has all of these qualities.
Return from Beryl to Painted Desert
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