Beryl

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Mineral guide

Learn about Beryl

iconic mineral with prisms and vivid color varieties (aquamarine, emerald, morganite); prized for crystal form, striking matrix, and collector appeal.

Regional guide

Beryl from Erongo Mountains, Namibia

from the Erongo Mountains is one of the modern classics of African mineral collecting: blue to blue-green aquamarine, colorless goshenite, yellow heliodor-like beryl, green beryl, and sharply zoned combinations of these colors, commonly staged against black schorl and pale feldspar. The best specimens have a look that is unmistakably Erongo—hexagonal beryl prisms with glassy terminations, milky or included bases, and dramatic contrast with glossy black tourmaline sprays, orthoclase, albite, smoky quartz, fluorite, muscovite, and occasional hyalite opal.