BERYL

Beryl

BERYL Perfect, prismatic hexagon crystals
Origins Afghanistan, Brazil, Colombia, Pakistan, South Africa & Tanzania
Colors Found Various
Family Beryl
Hardness 7.50 – 8.00
Refractive Index 1.56 – 1.60
Relative Density 2.66 – 2.87

The name Beryl is from the ancient Greek “beryllos” for the precious blue-green color of sea water. This was originally applied to all green gemstones, but later used only for Beryl. Some scholars believe the word Beryl is related to the ancient trading city of Belur or perhaps has ancient Indian origins (being derived from the old Hindi word “velurya” or the Sanskrit word “vaidurya”).

As an allochromatic gem, when absolutely pure Beryl is totally devoid of color. Small amounts of metallic elements can be present in the crystal structure, giving rise to many color variations. Aquamarine, Bixbite, Emerald, Fire Beryl™ – Goshenite and Heliodor are all members of the Beryl family.

Just the facts

Gemstone color varieties that belong to Beryl with specific names are listed below. All other colors of Beryl are simply referred to by their color (e.g., Yellow Beryl).

Aquamarine Pastel greenish blue to blue
Bixbite Red
Emerald Green
Fire Beryl™ (Goshenite) Colorless
Hardness Yellowish green
Morganite Pastel pink to salmon

Beryl is famous for its perfect, six-sided prismatic hexagon crystals that usually occur individually. These are occasionally enormous and some 26-foot, well-crystallized examples are known to have existed. Understandably, only very small amounts of these enormous crystals are of a sufficient quality to be used in jewelry.

All Beryl varieties can be faceted into various gem cuts, and some Beryl displays phenomena including asterism (star effect), chatoyancy (cat’s eye effect) and an unusual effect in Emerald called trapichism.