Aquamarine is the blue to blue-green variety of the mineral beryl, the same species that produces emerald, morganite, and heliodor. Its name comes from the Latin aqua marina, meaning water of the sea, a reference to its pale, ocean-like colour.
The colour comes from trace amounts of iron within the beryl crystal structure. Iron in its Fe2+ state produces the blue, while Fe3+ can add a secondary yellow or green tone. Because aquamarine typically grows with fewer inclusions than emerald, it is more often found as large, clean crystals.
Aquamarine forms in granite pegmatites and is found at a number of localities worldwide, including Brazil, Nigeria, Madagascar, and Pakistan. The specimen in our own collection comes from the Nagar valley in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, a region known for producing fine aquamarine still attached to its original quartz and feldspar matrix.
Most aquamarine sold as jewellery has been heat treated to remove the secondary yellow tone left by Fe3+ and produce a purer blue. This is a stable, industry standard treatment, but it means the vivid blue seen in many cut stones is not the crystal's natural colour. Our Nagar specimen is natural and untreated, so its colour is exactly as it formed underground.
See our Aquamarine collection for this specimen.