1.69 ct Blue Aquamarine - Kite

At 1.69 carats, this aquamarine from Nigeria carries its blue color through a kite cut, measuring 13.5 x 7.6 x 5 mm.

Aquamarine is the blue beryl, colored by iron, and grows in larger clean crystals than its cousin emerald, which is why it cuts so bright. Nigeria's gem fields rose to prominence in the 1990s and remain a significant modern source. It is entirely untreated; no heat, no enhancement, the color exactly as the earth made it.

This is a center-stone-grade gemstone with a character of its own, chosen rather than settled for. Hand-selected and photographed by Caveman Gems in good light, shown as honestly as a screen allows.