The specimen shown in figure 1, weighing 1418 ct and measuring approximately 77 × 55 × 45 mm, is a sharp, well-formed hexagonal light blue aquamarine crystal with attached muscovite crystals. The sample is from the well-known and highly productive Chumar Bakhoor mines of Pakistan’s Hunza Valley in the Nagar district of Gilgit-Baltistan. A dozen white octahedral fluorite inclusions, identified as such based on their shape, hardness, and polarized light response (confirmed isometric), are visible throughout the crystal (figure 2).
Considering the Chumar Bakhoor mines have been in operation for the last four decades, this is a surprisingly one-of-a-kind specimen. A literature search failed to turn up any other examples of fluorite inclusions in aquamarine.
The specimen shown in figure 1, weighing 1418 ct and measuring approximately 77 × 55 × 45 mm, is a sharp, well-formed hexagonal light blue aquamarine crystal with attached muscovite crystals. The sample is from the well-known and highly productive Chumar Bakhoor mines of Pakistan’s Hunza Valley in the Nagar district of Gilgit-Baltistan. A dozen white octahedral fluorite inclusions, identified as such based on their shape, hardness, and polarized light response (confirmed isometric), are visible throughout the crystal (figure 2).
Considering the Chumar Bakhoor mines have been in operation for the last four decades, this is a surprisingly one-of-a-kind specimen. A literature search failed to turn up any other examples of fluorite inclusions in aquamarine.
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