Aquamarine Tidewater Chunk.

Hold it up to a window and the world beyond turns the color of shallow water over white sand. This raw chunk of aquamarine is pale blue and faintly striated, unpolished and slightly frosted, and light passes clean through its thinner edges.

It still carries the flat hexagonal faces of the beryl crystal it broke from. It came out of the pegmatite fields of Minas Gerais, Brazil, where aquamarine forms in the same mineral-rich cavities that yield some of the country's finest topaz and tourmaline, and it was left raw rather than faceted, so its natural crystal habit shows.

The name comes straight from the Latin for seawater. Sailors once carried aquamarine to sea as a talisman for calm water and a safe return to port, and old seafaring belief held that it steadied an anxious traveler when the weather turned.

Details

• Stone: raw aquamarine (beryl), unpolished
• Origin: Minas Gerais, Brazil
• Natural hexagonal crystal faces

How to use

Set it on a desk that faces a window, where the light can find it, or tuck it into a travel bag before a flight or a long drive, in the old sailors' way. A cool, clear stone for anyone about to leave familiar ground.