A few months give people a choice of more than one birthstone and March is one of those months. People born in March can select a faceted aquamarine or they can select a cabochon-cut bloodstone. Many people know aquamarine because it serves as the birthstone for the month of March. Aquamarine rings, earrings, and pendants are popular birthstone gifts. Beryl Beads: This bracelet is made of translucent aquamarine and translucent morganite beads that are 8-millimeters in diameter.
Translucent can be beautiful! Tumbled Aquamarine: These tumbled stones were made from translucent aquamarine. They have a wonderful color. Aquamarine is best known as a highly transparent blue stone. Unlike emerald , the deep green variety of beryl, high-clarity, fracture-free aquamarine is abundant and more affordable.
High-clarity, fracture-free stones are also more attractive and less likely to be damaged during wear. Did you know that nice pieces of translucent aquamarine are also used in jewelry?
Translucent aquamarine is often cut into beads and sometimes cut as cabochons. Necklaces strung with beads of pastel blue aquamarine and pastel pink morganite both color-varieties of the mineral beryl make a beautiful combination. We wondered what the gem identification experts at the Gemological Institute of America GIA would think of a humble tumbled stone made from translucent blue beryl.
So, we packed one up and submitted it to their lab for identification. We were delighted to see that despite its distinctly translucent clarity and modest cutting style, the GIA lab identified it as follows Species: natural beryl, Variety: aquamarine.
Clarity and shape did not influence its identity. Aquamarine is such a popular gemstone that it can be found in almost any jewelry store in the United States.
If you are interested in purchasing an item of aquamarine jewelry, here are a few things to consider:. Durability: Aquamarine has a Mohs hardness of 7. Diamond, ruby, sapphire, topaz, and chrysoberyl are the only popular gemstones that are significantly harder. Hardness is a property that enables a gem to resist scratching. However, aquamarine's tenacity is rated as brittle - which means that the gem can be easily chipped upon impact.
A mounting that guards the stone from impact and not wearing the gem during activities that might result in accidental impact are important precautions. Color: The price of aquamarine is mainly determined by weight and the strength of its color. Gems with a faint blue color are abundant and inexpensive. Gems with a rich blue color are much more expensive because rich color in aquamarine is very rare.
A small aquamarine with a rich blue color will cost a lot more than identical-size stones with a faint blue color. Size: Aquamarine is available in a wide range of sizes. As the size of the gem increases, the strength of its apparent color will also increase.
It can be difficult to find a small gem with a rich blue color, but as the size of the stone increases, the opportunity to find strong color also increases. Heat-Treated Aquamarine: The blue color of this 0. As a member of the beryl mineral family, aquamarine has a chemical composition of Be 3 Al 2 Si 6 O Pure beryl is colorless.
The greenish blue to blue color of aquamarine is caused by trace amounts of iron. The iron can occur in two oxidation states. Most natural aquamarine has a greenish blue color. Gentle heat treatment can remove the yellow color and transform the gem's color to a more pure and more valuable blue.
Greenish yellow and other colors of beryl can be altered to colors within the aquamarine range by heat treatment. The color improvements achieved by heat treatment are thought to be permanent and undetectable by current methods of testing.
Any time a gem has been heated, irradiated, dyed, or undergone other treatments to improve its color, durability or appearance, the seller should disclose that information to the buyer.
This information is important to many buyers - even to buyers of low-cost items. Maxixe pronounced "mashish" is a rare variety of beryl with a dark blue color. The blue color develops while the gem material is still within the Earth by exposure to natural radiation.
Unfortunately, the blue color gradually fades to a pale brownish color upon exposure to light. If Maxixe loses its color, it can be irradiated in a laboratory, however, the renewed blue color will also fade. These tests can also be used to separate synthetic maxixe also known an maxixe-type beryl from synthetic aquamarine. Synthetic aquamarine lab-grown aquamarine has been produced by hydrothermal growth methods in Russia since at least the s [4] and since the early s in the Czech Republic [5].
Some synthetic aquamarine receives its color from iron, like natural aquamarine. However, richly colored synthetic aquamarine has been produced using cobalt, copper, and nickel as sources of color.
These metals have not been found as sources of color in natural aquamarine. Much synthetic aquamarine can be separated from natural aquamarine by microscopic examination. However, the growth zoning structures used to identify synthetic aquamarine are more difficult to recognize, especially in light-colored material. Characteristic mineral inclusions and multiphase inclusions can be used to identify natural aquamarine.
We're always happy to answer any questions. Simply call or email us. View our range of aquamarine gemstones, all ethically sourced and fully traceable, in our gemstone store. Aquamarine is a member of the beryl family which also includes emerald, goshenite, heliodor and morganite and is known for its delicate blue or blue-green colouring, which accounts for its name from the Latin "seawater", aqua - water and marina - of the sea.
Aquamarine can be found in very large crystals, weighing several kilograms or more. Consequently, faceted aquamarine can frequently be almost entirely free of inclusions much more often than its famous green cousin, emerald.
Pale Blue Aquamarine, 5. Aquamarine is a popular stone with very good hardness 7. The most popular cuts are emerald step and brilliant cut with long or rectangular shapes.
Aquamarine, 3. Aquamarine is the birthstone for those born in March.
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