Beryl var. Aquamarine

Sometimes, for reasons difficult to express, a certain specimen can get to you.  There is just something about it which delights, that mysterious je ne sais quoi.  If I were now to say this specimen lacks this, what a let-down it would be!  But it doesn’t, it gets to me big time and it is fabulous.  Described as Aquamarine, I almost prefer just to refer to it as Beryl, not gemmy, not even fully translucent, but fascinating and mesmerising.  From the well-known Namibian locality of Ameib Farm, close to the town of Usakos in the Erongo Region, the Beryl crystals appear to have grown horizontally, forming a parallel bundle with all crystals double terminated.  There are approximately twenty individual hexagonal prisms all of differing size, with the largest measuring 2 cm across the pinacoid.  The length of the crystals are roughly 3 to 6 cm.  The prisms are a clouded teal to sky blue with naturally etched faces while their terminations are mirror-like with a bright glassy lustre and most aesthetic siskin-leafy green cap.  A 6 x 4 cm patch of crystallised and granular grey Quartz matrix provides a small base on one side.  A gorgeous Namibian Aquamarine.