Aquamarine Tidewater Chunk

Pale blue and faintly striated, this raw chunk of aquamarine still carries the flat hexagonal faces of the beryl crystal it broke from, unpolished and slightly frosted where it met open air for the first time in millions of years. Held to a window, light passes clean through the thinner edges, tinting everything beyond it the color of shallow water over white sand. Sailors once carried aquamarine to sea as a talisman for calm water and a safe return to port, its name drawn straight from the Latin for seawater. Old seafaring belief credits the stone with a calming touch on a frightened heart, said to steady the nerves of an anxious traveler and keep a level head when the weather turns, literal or otherwise. This piece came out of the pegmatite fields of Minas Gerais, Brazil, where aquamarine forms in the same mineral-rich cavities that produce some of the country's finest topaz and tourmaline. It was left raw rather than faceted, on the belief that a stone's natural crystal habit carries more of its character than a cut gem ever could, however brilliant the cut. Good on a desk that faces a window, or tucked into a travel bag before a flight or a long drive. A cool, clear-headed stone for anyone about to leave familiar ground.