Buy Aquamarines

Aquamarine's color palette includes light blue, dark blue, blue-green, and turquoise in varying degrees of brightness. The most valuable is a distinct, intense blue. Very fine gemstones from a Brazilian mine in the state of Minas Gerais are known as Santa Maria aquamarine. They are characterized by their extremely intense blue. Similar beautiful color nuances are also found in Mozambique, Africa; they are called Santa Maria Africana in reference to their Brazilian relatives. In aquamarines from other regions, such as Sri Lanka, the iridescence is not as significant, with a color change merely occurring between blue-green and violet. A special feature of aquamarine is its pronounced pleochroism: depending on the viewing angle, its color varies between light blue and sky blue, or between yellow-green and blue-green. There are both translucent and opaque aquamarines. Completely transparent specimens are the most sought-after. Gemstones with a cat's eye effect , or star-shaped light phenomena, are an exception to this rule, however. These optical effects are caused by certain inclusions of foreign minerals in the crystal structure.