Beryl

specimen number:
2063693

location:
Mt. White, Chaffee Co., Colorado, USA

description:

A loose sharp pale blue gem quality terminated crystal of beryl, this the variety often called aquamarine. In perfect condition all around.

Mt. White, situated in the Sawatch Range of Chaffee County, Colorado, sits within a geologically rich region famous for high-elevation pegmatite deposits that formed during Precambrian igneous activity. Rising above 13,000 feet near Antero Peak, the mountain became a historic hub for American gem collecting after mineral prospectors in the late nineteenth century discovered miarolitic cavities packed with sharp aquamarine crystals, quartz, and feldspar. Aquamarine, a blue-to-blue-green variety of the mineral beryl, formed as fluorine- and beryllium-rich hydrothermal fluids slowly cooled inside gas pockets within granite veins, allowing hex-shaped crystals of exceptional transparency and color to grow undisturbed. Mining on Mt. White has historically been conducted by hand or light equipment due to the steep terrain, severe weather, and short summer collecting windows, yielding some of the finest gem-quality aquamarine specimens ever produced in North America.

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