Aquamarine, as the name suggests means seawater. Thus, this gemstone owns the light blue or light greenish blue colour that comes on your mind!
Being a variety of beryl, the main reason for its light blue to greenish blue colour is the presence of iron on its chemical composition. This beautiful gemstone shows a hardness of around 71/2 at Moh's scale and this makes it a pretty wearable gemstone for everyday pieces of jewellery. If you own different pieces of jewellery with aquamarine gemstones, make sure that you keep them in different poaches or boxes, so that you will avoid abrasion damage. The most important localities of aquamarine are found in Brazil, Madagascar, Kenya, Burma and Sri Lanka. As a crystal, aquamarine belongs to the hexagonal system, showing a prismatic habit with pinacoid terminations. Very often, there are some hexagonal etch pits on the pinacoid faces of the crystal and some rectangular etch pits on the prism faces of it. These are identical of the beryl crystal form. On the photo below you can see an aquamarine crystal, showing a hexagonal prism, one pinacoid termination and one termination which has been damaged.
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| Hexagonal prism and pinacoid termination of an aquamarine crystal |
Aquamarine can be cut either as a faceted stone or as a cabochon. However, the most desirable gemstones are those cut as faceted style, because they are transparent and display a brighter colour. Common inclusions of aquamarines are the hollow growth tubes, known as 'rain-like' inclusions. On the photo below a light blue oval cut faceted aquamarine next to a darker blue pear cut faceted aquamarine are displayed.
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| Light blue oval cut faceted aquamarine (left) - Deeper blue pear cut faceted aquamarine (right) |
When it comes to jewellery, aquamarine has become very popular, especially after the Royal Wedding in London, because Meghan Markle was wearing a beautiful cocktail ring with a large faceted aquamarine, which used to belong to Princess Diana. Who can resist on a beautiful ring like this?! Alternatively, an all time classic three stone ring in 18 carat yellow gold with an octagonal cut greenish blue beryl, surrounded by 2 baguette cut diamonds on the sides, by Dinny Hall.
Moreover, aquamarine gemstones can be seen as rough fashioning style in many pieces of jewellery. On the photo below, you can have a look at this beautiful pair of rough and polished aquamarine earrings made by salome designs. These beauties can be worn all day long, with summer white jean shorts and plain t-shirts, maxi and mini dresses in a variety of colours or with a very lightweight tunic! When I have this pair of earrings on, they definitely make me feel very summery 😎!
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| Three stone ring in 18 carat yellow gold with an octagonal cut green beryl surrounded by 2 baguette cut diamonds on the sides, by Dinny Hall. |
Moreover, aquamarine gemstones can be seen as rough fashioning style in many pieces of jewellery. On the photo below, you can have a look at this beautiful pair of rough and polished aquamarine earrings made by salome designs. These beauties can be worn all day long, with summer white jean shorts and plain t-shirts, maxi and mini dresses in a variety of colours or with a very lightweight tunic! When I have this pair of earrings on, they definitely make me feel very summery 😎!
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| Pair of earrings with rough aquamarine gemstones in a gold plated metal by salome design |
P.S.Emerald is the most famous variety of beryl, you know the vivid green one!If you want more info check my previous blog about this famous gemstone.
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