Beryl

A lovely small-cabiniet sized specimen of greenish-golden beryl from the classic Beryl Mountain Quarry in South Acworth, New Hampshire. This crystal is fairly smooth, terminations are not intact, but still it displays its hexagonal prism in a dynamic fashion mostly exposed in matrix. The colour is typical for the locality.

Beryl Mountain has been known to mineralogists since the early 19th century and is famous for producing some of the largest beryl crystals ever documented. As early as the 1820s and 1830s, expeditions led by figures such as Charles Upham Shepard, Edward Hitchcock, and Francis Alger recorded enormous beryl crystals, some measuring up to 4–5 feet in length. At the time, these were regarded as world-record specimens, and examples from Acworth found their way into major museum collections worldwide, including the Imperial Cabinet in Vienna. The Acworth pegmatites were later worked more extensively during the mid-20th century, with much production under-reported due to Cold War strategic concerns. Today, well-formed beryl specimens from this famous site remain highly desirable, making this a fine addition to any beryl suite or classic American mineral collection. Ex Peter Tarassoff collection.