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Chrysoberyl - Sold


Chrysoberyl is a beryllium aluminum oxide with orthorhombic symmetry. Chrysoberyl has the olivine structure type. Hoffmann (1789) recorded that Abraham Gottlobb Werner began applying the name Krisoberil for this mineral distinguishing it from hyacinth, a term applied also including garnets and zircon. (Hoffmann, 1789). Chrysoberyl combines the Greek roots for golden, chrysos, that for beryl, beryllos.

The finest crystals of chrysoberyl come from this region of Brazil. They occur in silica poor pegmatites. This particular example has excellent luster and good transparency. Most specimens with this much transparency find their way into cutting shops, and not onto the mineral collecting market. This crystal cluster, consists of a main crystal, 16 by 15 mm, with several attached smaller crystals.