Beryl gemstone

Physical properties of beryl

Characteristics of beryl

In fact, beryl (heliodor, goshenite, morganite, sparrowite, augustite, red bixbite) is not one gem, but a whole class of different stones. The diversity of beryls has been of concern to mankind for a very long time. Many of the beryls have received separate names and are known by them more than by the name "beryl".

Beryls even include such well-known stones as blue aquamarine, dark green emerald and golden heliodor. In addition to these famous stones, there are many other precious stones in the beryl family - goshenite (colorless beryl), morganite (red and pink beryl), sparrowite (red-pink Ural beryl), augustite (dark blue beryl) and red bixbite. There are also colorless beryls, with the optical effect of a cat's eye, or the effect of asterism (stellation).

Varieties of jewelry beryl:

• emerald - deep green beryl
• aquamarine - blue or greenish-blue beryl
• augustite (aquamarine-maxix) - blue or blue-violet beryl
• heliodor - yellow and golden beryl
• morganite (vorobyevite) - pink beryl (rare)
• biscuit (pink beryl) - raspberry-red beryl (very rare, sometimes isolated as a separate gem)
• goshenite - colorless beryl
• noble beryl - pale green and apple green beryl
• bazzite - blue beryl (the color of bazzite depends on scandium, and the color of aquamarine is formed by iron impurities)
• riesling - a rare type of beryl of pale green shades with strong dichroism (not available for sale, very rare and expensive)
• pezzotaite - pink and raspberry-red beryls (pezzotaite is often isolated as a separate gemstone that is not related to beryl)

And the color range of beryl is so wide that almost all colors are present in it. But the most common are yellowish, greenish, bluish, brownish and beryl without an even color. Although initially the name beryl was called transparent gemstones of green color.

What is good about a beryl stone is that sometimes beryls of very large sizes are found in nature. The record belongs to beryl found in the USA, which was 8.5 meters long and weighed 61 tons. However, good beryl stones rarely reach this size. But they are also very large. For example, a good sample of pure yellowish-green beryl weighing 2.5 kg was found in the Urals.

In jewelry, only transparent beryls with good color are used. True, some beryls are artificially treated with high temperatures in order to obtain a good color. For example, pale green or yellow-green beryl becomes blue after heat treatment. And if morganite is subjected to high temperature, then the brightness of its color will increase.

How much is beryl

Prices for beryl depend on the variety. The most expensive variety of beryl is red bixbite. This gem is considered one of the most expensive - the price of a 1 carat stone can reach $ 1,000.

But the average price for an emerald is much lower - $350 per carat. Morganites will cost $200 per carat. Aquamarines and heliodors can be bought even cheaper - $150 per carat. Other beryls are quite inexpensive - $40 per carat and below.