A doubly-terminated, perfect, pristine natural jewel. This is a complete 44-gram floater aquamarine crystal from one of the most famous finds for beryl on the planet, really almost a legendary find as everybody wants one but so few specimen-quality pieces survived the cutter wheels. It is a barrel-shaped, classic Jaqueto aquamarine crystal... the best ones are just like this, tapering on the ends and with a big fat gem nodule in the middle. This locality is not in Minas Gerais, but further north in Bahia, its own little deposit. This locality has produced some of the purest, most intense natural blue aquamarine for the gem trade in the past - and a few small pockets of specimens as well. These have wonderful "crystal" inside, in gem parlance, and cutting them into gems is an easier way to get money out of them than as specimens. And, that analysis is why you see fewer and fewer of these survive as specimens when the cutting value is so easily obtained as gem rough. It also makes it difficult for dealers like me to buy these in Brazil from old stashes because we must compete and pay more than the cutting price to preserve the specimen. This is a particularly symmetric, particularly clean and gemmy example of this material. It is instantly recognizable to most gem crystal collectors who have been around awhile and is "special" even amongst the crowd of aquamarines out there. Joe Budd photos.