GEM17-21
Red Beryl (doubly-terminated floater)
Violet Claims, Wah Wah Mountains, Utah, USA
Miniature, 2.9 x 1.3 x 1.2 cm
SOLD
Red beryls are simply unique and beautiful, and colored by Manganese at a certain amount, only in the remote mountains of Utah (perhaps soon to be fully classed as red emeralds which I feel is what they deserve - wait and see what the GIA and gem field allows). This is an unusually large, doubly-terminated, cherry-colored red beryl crystal of frankly obscene size. The surface is GLASSY like you almost never see, although only on the display face. Although the rest of the crystal is complete, it is roughened a little bit by dissolution in the pocket as they all tend to be as they get larger (this happens naturally in the hot and fluid-rich environment they formed in). The opaque portions of the crystal are still colored a rich pink and actually serve to highlight how glassy and really red the front display faces are. The mass is 9 grams - large for the locale and since it only occurs here, large for the species and the locality, both. It is an impactful, important specimen that literally leaps out with color when it stands on a shelf, and can hold its own with fancy gem crystals to any who see this in person. Crystals of this size and quality are so rare, the number is probably countable on two hands. Most were mined in the 1980s, and into the 1990s, by Rex Harrison (now deceased).