Feature
Gems & Gemology, Spring 2001, Volume 37, No. 1
Hydrothermal Synthetic Red Beryl from the Institute of Crystallography, Moscow
James E. Shigley, Shane F. McClure, Jo Ellen Cole, John I. Koivula, Taijin Lu, Shane Elen, and Ludmila N. Demianets
Hydrothermal synthetic red beryl has been produced for jewelry applications by the Institute of Crystallography and an affiliated company, Emcom Ltd., both in Moscow. Diagnostic identification features include: a tabular crystal morphology, chevron-like and subparallel or slightly wavy internal growth zoning, sharp absorption bands at approximately 530, 545, 560, 570, and 590 nm due to Co2+, water-related absorption bands between 4200 and 3200 cm-1 in the infrared spectrum, and the presence of Co and Ni peaks in EDXRF spectra.
