Joined: Sat Oct 25, 2008 1:04 pm Posts: 16 Location: Tanzania
I am unfamiliar with aquamarine. The properties are similar to glass, so I did not purchase this large rough "stone" as the asking price was rather high.
origin: iam told it has come from songea area, Tanzania.
colour: bluish green. yellowish rind one corner.
weight: 189 grams
specific gravity: 2.55 (as measured in volume cylinder- more on the glass side of properties though cylinder graduations not that accurate)
shape: large duck egg size/shape, water worn exterior
clarity: eye clean, appears flawless
lustre: vitrious, very bright interior
hardness: seems resitant to glass scratch test, but is scratched by quartz. This should not occur as aquamarine has a hardness of 7.5-8?
fracture: conchoidal
streak: white
polarised lens: i tried with my polaroid sunglass lens at 90 degrees to eachother and it went dark every 90 degrees.
Any comments are appreciated, and or definative tests I could further do.
Joined: Fri Jan 27, 2006 12:27 pm Posts: 764 Location: Western NY
Nice color -- I can see why this would tempt someone.
Those fractures scream glass to me. The water worn pattern looks very much like the pieces of river beach glass I pick up when wandering the shore with the kids.
Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2007 12:44 pm Posts: 209 Location: Dallas, Texas
Aqua rough or Beryl can be very large. Do not make the mistake that just because it is large that you or a cutter will get a lot of fine stones from the sample. There was a case before the IRS for a charitable donation of a large piece of rough aquamarine. The donor had placed a cut and finished price on the rough piece. Irs rejected the claim as it only gives credit where there is cut stones, not POSSIBLE CUT STONES. If the price is too good to be true, it often is too good to be true, pass on this item if you can not afford to discover you paid aqua prices for a lump of glass. winstone
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