Bixbite — Red Beryl from the Wah Wah Mountains
Bixbite — Red Beryl from the Wah Wah Mountains
The rarest gem variety of beryl, produced almost exclusively at one Utah locality
Bixbite, more accurately and increasingly known as red beryl, is the manganese-coloured variety of beryl, distinguished from the more familiar emerald, aquamarine, morganite, and heliodor by its strong raspberry to scarlet body colour. It is the rarest of the gem varieties of beryl and one of the rarest gem materials in commercial circulation. The species occurs at a small number of localities, but only one — the Ruby-Violet claim in the Wah Wah Mountains of Beaver County, Utah — has produced gem-quality faceted material in commercial volume. The variety is among the most valuable gems by weight, with fine carat-plus stones often pricing comparably to fine ruby of equivalent size.
Naming
The variety was named bixbite in 1912 by Alfred Eppler in honour of Maynard Bixby, the American mineralogist who had identified the species. The name is potentially confusing because Bixby's surname is also commemorated in bixbyite, an iron-manganese oxide that occurs in the same Utah deposits. The two minerals are entirely distinct. The current trade and gemmological preference is for red beryl, both for its descriptive accuracy and to avoid confusion with bixbyite.
Locality and geology
Red beryl occurs in topaz rhyolite, a highly silicic volcanic rock with elevated beryllium and manganese content, where the gem grows in vapour-phase cavities in the volcanic glass. The principal commercial locality is the Ruby-Violet claim in the Wah Wah Mountains of southwestern Utah, owned and operated since 1976 by various commercial entities, with limited and intermittent production. The mineralogy is unusual: the topaz rhyolite environment is rare globally, and the specific combination of beryllium availability and manganese chemistry required to produce red beryl is rarer still.
Other localities yielding red beryl include the Thomas Range in Utah and a small number of occurrences in Mexico and New Mexico, but none has produced commercial volumes of facetable material. The Wah Wah deposit is therefore effectively the world's sole source of cut gem-quality red beryl.
Production and rarity
Production from the Wah Wah claim has been intermittent and small in scale. Estimates of total production over the operating life of the mine suggest that fewer than 50,000 carats of facetable rough have ever been recovered, with cut yields perhaps a third of that figure. Stones above 1 carat are uncommon; stones above 3 carats are exceptional. By comparison, the Mogok stone tract in Burma has produced perhaps tens of millions of carats of fine ruby. The supply discrepancy between red beryl and even the most precious of the conventional gem species is fundamental to its market behaviour.
Properties
Red beryl shares the species properties of beryl: hardness 7.5 to 8, specific gravity around 2.66 to 2.70, refractive indices approximately 1.564 to 1.574, hexagonal crystal system, and good resistance to wear. The colour is the result of trace manganese substituting for aluminium in the crystal structure, with iron contributing in some specimens. Pleochroism is moderate, with the body colour showing slight variation between the optic axes. Inclusions are typically vapour-phase fluid inclusions and angular tubular voids characteristic of the volcanic-cavity environment.
Treatment
Red beryl is generally not treated. Its colour is natural and stable, and clarity-enhancement filling is uncommon for the variety. Buyers can typically expect untreated material, although laboratory verification is advisable for high-value pieces.
Synthesis
Synthetic red beryl has been produced by hydrothermal methods, principally in Russia, from the late twentieth century onward. The synthetic material can closely match natural in appearance and requires laboratory analysis to identify reliably. For high-value transactions, GIA or AGL reports confirming natural origin are essentially mandatory.
Pricing and market
Fine red beryl in the 1-to-3-carat range trades at prices comparable to fine ruby of similar size. Stones above 3 carats with fine colour are extraordinary and price accordingly. The market is small but active, with collectors and connoisseurs the principal buyers. Stones move principally through specialist coloured-stone dealers, with auction appearances rare but well-publicised when they occur.
In the trade
For the dealer, red beryl is among the satisfactions of working with truly rare gem material. Fine stones rarely pass through the trade, and when they do they tend to find committed collectors quickly. Pricing should reflect the genuine scarcity of the material, with caution applied to mid-grade stones that may be available at less premium rates from periodic Wah Wah recoveries. Buyers should always insist on a current laboratory report distinguishing natural from synthetic material.