Mineral Mondays #3: Aquamarine, Blue Ice
Aquamarine is member of the beryl family. It is regularly used in jewelry because of it's beautiful, aqua, blue color and is sometimes called "blue ice".
Some aquamarine facts:
- The Beryl family - aquamarine(blue), emerald(green), morganite(pink), heliodor(yellow), goshenite(clear), red beryl (the king beryls)
- Shape - beryl crystals grow hexogonal
- Composition - beryllium, aluminum & cyclosilicate
- Hardness - 7.5 - 8 (fairly hard, diamond is 10)
- Refractive index (fire) - 1.57 - 1.58 (diamond is 2.417 - 2.419)
- March Birthstone
Some aquamarine stories:
Perhaps you've see the show Prospectors in which they mine aquamarine on Mt. Antero in Colorado. It's one of the many localities around the world that produce aquamarine including California, Brazil, China, Afghanistan & Pakistan, Africa and Sri Lanka to name a few. While I haven't had the chance to dig on Mt. Antero, I'm lucky to live near a working mine that still produces aquamarine, the Ocean View Mine in Pale, California. I've only been digging there for just over a year, but I've found some great specimens like the one above and below. We ended up selling the specimen below for $75 in Japan. That piece alone paid for the dig fee so all of the other aquamarine, morganite, spodumene & garnets that I found were profit.
In addition to digging, I also hunt the mineral dealers for bargains and rare finds. You can find great deals at gem shows, especially if you know the dealers. Below are some of my latest finds that go into my collection because they are rare. The first one is an aquamarine scepter in which the upper portion of the mineral protrudes beyond the base. The second is a bicolor beryl, morganite & aquamarine. Both are treasures and I got amazing deals on them.
I'll finish off with some other recent pictures of aquamarine I've come across.
Stay tuned for next week's Mineral Mondays: Opal
If you missed last week's mineral, Tourmaline, you can read about it here: https://steemit.com/science/@rt395/mineral-mondays-tourmaline-the-most-colorful-gemstone
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Those look very cool. I love the way they can all look so different :-)
Thanks Duck. Ya, many different types. Most of it depends on purity of the crystal.
Awesome! Good luck and have fun with mining. I wish I am close to a mine too. :)
Susan, there is a fantastic material in Maine at the Spar Hawk mine & Mt. Mica. Amazing green turmalines https://crossmainetourmaline.wordpress.com
thanks, Erik, Next time when I am in Maine, will definitely check it out. thanks for the info.
I love this! I'm a geology student, and my dad's a rockhound, so this is exactly my cup of tea. Would it be alright with you if I did Mineral Monday blog posts too?
The more the merrier! Post away! I'd love to see what you come up with.
That's awesome that you're studying geology, maybe in your time you can apply it to mars or beyond. I'm just happy to be a lowly rockhound like your pops.
Awesome, thanks!
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The Tourmaline from last week sadly didn't make the cut, but I'd like to try again and nominate this post!
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my great grandfather made jewelry from stones like that :)
he died in 1948
Very Cool Stress. Hard to tell what stones those are, could be turquoise, could be variscite, could be jade, could be a greener aquamarine. Nice craftsmanship though.
Woow incredible stone
Thank you. I have much more amazing specimens of other minerals I'll be sharing over time so stay tuned every Monday.
Stunning pieces. I want some aquamarine. It is my birthstone. I have a large collection of stones but no aquamarine (except in a birthstone ring) doesn't count lol
I'll have to put a package of some minerals together and send them to you. I have too many!
You are awesome. Send me some pictures on slack sometime id love to see what you have