Gem: Vanadium emerald
Weight: 3.71 grams
Dimensions: 17 x 11.6 x 9.7 mm
Clarity: N/A (not for cutting) - very gemmy for an emerald specimen
Origin: Nasarawa, Nigeria 2025 find
Treatments: None
Comments:
Striped emerald has been on my bucket list for quite some time! In my personal opinion, some of the best come from Australia, but these new find vanadium emeralds are putting up quite a show too!
Banded vanadium green emeralds have been known from the Jos Plateau broadly for a long time, but they are very often extremely light in color. Some of the pieces I have seen from the new find are MUCH more green, with MUCH more obvious vanadium color banding.
This perfect thumbnail crystal is a great example from the find. It has one primary stripe of DEEP color, and fairly good width, but there is a supporting cast of at least a half dozen other distinct green stripes. Under magnification, and under ideal lighting circumstances, I suspect that there are likely to be several dozen stripes.
This crystal is pocket-etched a bit here and there, including a neat design on the termination. By looking at the way it is etched near the bottom edges, showing crystallization layers underneath, it appears to me that this piece was once a scepter.
In my mind, this is the perfect thumbnail size and quality: NOT too small, and showing intense, unique features.