Description

Historic beryl specimen from the grounds of Château de Montjeu, Broye, south of Autun, in the Morvan region of Saône-et-Loire.
The crystal is yellow, with well-formed, sharp facets.
It was discovered around 1910.
In the article Sur le béryl de Montjeu (Saône-et-Loire), we read that the ” The beryl in question was found in a quartz vein in the Parc de Montjeu, the former Talleyrand de Périgord estate now owned by the Princesse de Ligne.“This discovery attracted the attention of Ph. Barbier and F. Gonnard, who published in the Bulletin de la Société française de Minéralogie in 1910, pp. 78-79. This article also states: “[…] this vein is thought to be part of a pegmatite with very large elements of pink feldspar and muscovite, […]. “The lodge and the discovery are mythical, period specimens impossible to find.
The pegmatite vein is, of course, inaccessible and probably lost, and no one knows exactly where it is, in Europe’s largest private enclosed park (704 hectares enclosed by 10.6 km of walls).
The Holy Grail of Morvan mineralogy…

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