Note on a specimen of white beryl from Beam mine, St. Austell, Cornwall

Extract

The specimen, which is in two pieces cemented together, was purchased for the Museum of Practical Geology in February, 1888, from Mr. F. H. Butler, and bears the Museum's original Mineral Inventory label (M.I. 5714) on each portion. The inventory description is “Tin-stone, well crystallised, coating granite, Beam mine, Cornwall”. The exhibition label mentions quartz, and the presence of beryl had no doubt been overlooked through the general resemblance to milky quartz, which is not uncommon on some Beam mine material. Actually it was noticed during the rearrangement of the collection in 1934 that the cassiterite is accompanied by large, dull white crystals which proved to be beryl. In view of the rarity of beryl in Cornwall a brief description may be of interest.