The large beryl mentioned by Mr. Kunz in the Mineral Resources for 1883 and 1884 has afforded the finest aquamarine of American origin known. It is brilliant as a cut gem, and, with the exception of a few internal hair-like striæ, is absolutely perfect. It weighs 133¾ carats, measures 1-2/5 × 1-2/5 × 4/5 inch, and is of a deep bluish green, equal to that of gems from any known locality.
Mr. G.F. Breed, manager of the Valencia Mica Company, has cut nearly one hundred aquamarines, ranging from ½ carat to 4 carats in weight, and of a light blue color, from white beryls found in the company's mica mine at North Grafton, N.H.
A number of fine, deep golden-yellow, blue, and green beryls, equaling any ever found, have been taken by Mr. M.W. Barse from his mica mine between New Milford and Litchfield, Conn. Some fine blood-red garnets from this same locality have been cut into gems.
The largest phenacite crystal ever found is owned by Mr. Whitman Cross. It was discovered at Crystal Park, Col., weighs 59 pennyweights 6 grains, and measures 1-4/5 inch in length and 1-1/5 inch in thickness.
Thousands of garnet crystals, found at Ruby Mountain, near Salides, Col., have been made into paperweights and sold to tourists. Those that weigh a few ounces sell for about ten cents each. One was sold that weighed 14 pounds. Apropos of garnets, the discovery, in the heart of New York city, of as fine a crystal as was ever found on this continent, and weighing 9 pounds 10 ounces, may be mentioned as a matter of peculiar interest.
Several thousand dollars' worth of the wood jasper of Arizona has been cut into paper weights, charms, and other objects, or polished on one side for cabinet specimens. Numbers of these articles are now being cut and sold to tourists along the line of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad.
The compact quartzite of Sioux Falls, Dakota, is being quarried and polished for ornamental purposes. It is known and sold as "Sioux Falls jasper," and is really the stone referred to by Longfellow in his Hiawatha as being used for arrow heads. This stone takes a very high polish, and is found in a variety of pleasing tints, such as chocolate, brownish-red, brick-red, and yellowish. For the two years previous to 1885, $15,000 worth of it was sold.
A remarkable mass of rock crystal has been received by Messrs. Tiffany & Co. from a locality near Cave City, Va. Although this mass weighs 51 pounds, it is but a fragment of the original crystal, which weighed 300 pounds, and which was broken in pieces by the ignorant mountain girl who found it. The fragment, as it is, will furnish slabs 8 inches square and from 1/3 to 1 inch thick. The original crystal would have furnished a ball from 4½ to 5 inches in diameter, and almost perfect. A number of fine agates of various kinds were found by Mr. F.C. Yeomans at the same locality.
The meccanite from Cumberland, R.I., is often spotted with white quartz. It has been cut into oval stones several inches in length, which take a fine polish. This quality, coupled with its hardness, makes it a desirable ornamental gem stone.
Mr. Kunz records the discovery, by himself, in the largest mass of the Glorieta Mountain (Santa Fe County, N.M.), of pieces of peridot of sufficient transparency to afford gems one-fifth of an inch in length.