Aquamarine

  

Aquamarine is a blue to greenish-blue or bluish-green variety of beryl. Aquamarine’s name comes from the Latin for seawater and it was said to calm waves and keep sailors safe at sea. March’s birthstone was also thought to enhance the happiness of marriages. The best gems combine high clarity with limpid transparency and blue to slightly greenish blue hues. Like many beryls, aquamarine forms large crystals suitable for sizable fashioned gems and carvings.

• Varieties: May occasionally exhibit a cat’s eye effect (chatoyancy).
• Sources: Sri Lanka, Brazil, Madagascar (only historically), Tanzania, Russia, Kenya, Afghanistan, Nigeria.
• Toughness: Good
• Treatments: Almost all aquamarine is heat-treated to enhance its blue colour. Irradiation with neutron, gamma rays or with x-rays. Colour change is permanent and is an accepted practice. A morganite (pink beryl) turns deep purple blue (Maxixe type) upon ultraviolet irradiation, though the colour is not stable.
• History: The word aquamarine comes from the Latin for sea water. In 1910 a 243 lb. crystal was found in Brazil. The outside was greenish and the inside was blue. It sold for $25,000 and was cut into many high quality gems. The American Museum of Natural History has a 13 lb. uncut piece of the green outside portion.
• Cuts & Uses: The step-cut is the most popular because it accentuates the colour. As it is often found in large, flawless, even-colored crystals, it is frequently used in pendants and rings. Given a piece of rough with a certain colour intensity, the larger stones cut from it will exhibit deeper colour. Other Information Aquamarine is the blue, or perhaps more correctly, blue-green or aqua variety of the mineral beryl. Other gemstone colour varieties that belong to beryl include emerald, morganite, and heliodor. Other colours of beryl are simply referred to by their colour, such as red beryl. Most gem aquamarines have been heat treated to produce the popular blue-green varieties from less desirable yellow or pale stones.