Skardu Aquamarine: Beruj from the Valleys of Baltistan سکردو کا بیروج

Where the aquamarine is found

Skardu is Baltistan's main town, sitting in a broad valley where the Shigar river joins the Indus. North and west of it are the Shigar and Braldu valleys and the Haramosh range, some of the highest and roughest terrain anywhere on earth. Aquamarine is dug from pockets inside pegmatite veins all through these valleys, often on steep ground well above the villages.

Plenty of the workings are small claims run by families. Rough and crystals are carried down to the villages and on to Skardu, where dealers buy them up. A big share then travels to Gilgit, Rawalpindi and Peshawar to be sold and cut.

It is tough work in a short season. Miners usually find pockets by chasing a vein into the mountainside, and a team may spend weeks on a claim before they break into a good one. When a rich pocket does open, the crystals have to come out with real care, because a long aquamarine prism snaps easily and a broken crystal loses much of its worth as a specimen.

The geology, kept simple

Aquamarine is blue beryl. It is the same mineral as emerald, but iron gives it its colour instead of chromium. To form beryl you need beryllium, and beryllium tends to gather in the last, watery stage of a cooling granite.

As the mountains of Baltistan rose, granite melted deep in the crust. While it cooled, the final fluid-rich part was squeezed into cracks and hardened into pegmatite, a very coarse-grained rock. Wherever gas and water gathered, open pockets were left, and crystals inside them could grow without anything in the way. That is why aquamarine here so often comes as long, well-formed crystals with flat ends, sometimes many centimetres long, sitting among feldspar, mica, quartz, tourmaline and topaz.

Clear crystals grown in open pockets are the reason Baltistan aquamarine suits the cutter as well as the collector.

A bit of history

People in Baltistan have known about these crystals for generations, but the wider gem and mineral trade only really took notice in the later twentieth century, once the roads improved and dealers started buying direct in Skardu. Since then Shigar and the valleys around it have been a steady source of aquamarine for cutters and collectors alike.

Mining stays small-scale and seasonal, and the high pockets can only be reached in the warmer months. How much comes out depends on weather, access and the luck of finding a good pocket, so we do not quote figures.

How Skardu aquamarine looks

• Colour: mostly a pale to medium sky blue, sometimes with a slight green lean. A deep, saturated blue is less common.
• Clarity: often very clean, especially material from open pockets.
• Crystal shape: long six-sided prisms, frequently with mica or feldspar still attached. Fine crystals are prized as specimens and are sometimes worth more left uncut.
• Inclusions: fine parallel tubes and liquid-filled "rain" running down the length of the crystal are common.
• Treatment: greenish aquamarine from many sources is often gently heated to take out the green and leave a cleaner blue. The result is stable and widely accepted, but it should be disclosed.

Skardu next to other sources

As ever, read these as general patterns rather than rules. Several of our current aquamarines are listed as Afghan, and to the eye Afghan and Pakistani stones can be impossible to separate.

What can and cannot prove origin

Proving where an aquamarine came from is very difficult. The pegmatites of Pakistan and Afghanistan formed in much the same way, and rough from both passes through the same markets. A lab can confirm that a stone is natural aquamarine and whether it shows signs of treatment, but origin opinions on aquamarine are uncommon and seldom worth paying for on an ordinary stone.

A specimen bought from a known dealer in Skardu with its matrix still attached is stronger circumstantial evidence than a loose cut stone, but it still is not proof. For most buyers, the questions that matter are simpler: is it natural, has it been heated, and how well is it cut?

Buying Skardu aquamarine: what we would tell a friend

1. Look at colour first. A deeper blue costs more. A pale stone can still look beautiful in a bigger size, so compare stones with a similar depth of colour.
2. Expect a clean stone. Since clean aquamarine is easy to find, inclusions you can see without a loupe should bring the price down.
3. Check the cut. Pale stones need good proportions and enough depth to show their colour; shallow cuts look washed out.
4. Ask whether it is heated. A heated aquamarine is perfectly fine to buy, as long as the seller tells you.
5. Rule out look-alikes. Blue topaz, glass and synthetic spinel all get sold as aquamarine. See buying March's stones and our aquamarine guide.
6. Compare using the right ratti. The standard gem ratti is 0.91 carat and the jeweller's ratti about 0.61 carat. The carat to ratti converter makes comparing quotes easy.

Specimens versus cut stones

Baltistan aquamarine reaches buyers in two quite different forms. The best crystals, especially ones still sitting on feldspar or mica, are sold whole as mineral specimens, and collectors judge them on shape, sharpness, colour and how balanced the whole piece looks. Broken crystals and fragments go to the cutters. If you are buying a crystal, look closely for repairs and glued joins, which are common on specimens that cracked during mining. If you are buying a cut stone, judge colour, clarity and cut exactly as you would with any aquamarine.

Other beryls from the same pockets

The same pegmatites that give aquamarine also produce beryl in other colours. Pink to peach morganite and golden heliodor show up in Shigar and the neighbouring valleys, usually in smaller quantities. Colourless beryl, sometimes called goshenite, is found as well. All of them share aquamarine's hardness and care needs. They are sold under their own names, and no seller should call a pale greenish beryl "aquamarine" without being honest about its actual colour.

Looking after aquamarine

Aquamarine is hard and holds up well in rings and pendants. Wash it in warm soapy water with a soft brush. Protect the corners from knocks and keep it away from strong heat. Store it separately from harder stones like sapphire.

What aquamarine costs

The price comes down to depth of blue, clarity, size and cut, and origin matters less here than it does with emerald or ruby. The table below draws on our own aquamarine listings and is updated every month.

Aquamarine at Authentic Gems

Among our current aquamarine listings are this 12.90 carat natural beruj and this 2.7 carat light blue aquamarine listed as Afghan. The origin we show is the one our supplier gave us. Browse all our aquamarine, read about March's birthstone or see lab-certified aquamarine. Every stone ships from Karachi on cash on delivery, and you check it before you pay.