Bixbite

Bixbite is a historic trade name for red beryl, the exceptionally rare raspberry-red variety of beryl. The name honored mineralogist Maynard Bixby, but it has been largely abandoned because it is too easily confused with bixbyite, a completely different manganese-iron oxide mineral.

Under either name, the gem is one of the rarest in the world, found chiefly in Utah's Wah Wah Mountains. Its vivid color comes from manganese, and crystals are typically very small.

Today gemologists and dealers prefer "red beryl" or the marketing term "red emerald," but "bixbite" still appears in older references and collections.

Like red beryl, bixbite forms in topaz-bearing rhyolite rather than pegmatite. Beryllium-rich gases percolating through cooling volcanic rock react with manganese, depositing the gem in fractures and gas cavities.

This vapor-phase crystallization at high temperature is unusual and short-lived, which explains the gem's extreme scarcity. Manganese (Mn3+) provides the red color.

The main source is the Ruby-Violet claims in the Wah Wah Mountains, Utah, with minor non-gem occurrences in the Thomas Range and New Mexico's Black Range.

Bixbite (red beryl) is a transparent raspberry- to cherry-red stone, hardness 7.5-8, with a hexagonal crystal form and vitreous luster. Refractive index is about 1.57-1.60 and specific gravity roughly 2.7.

Do not confuse the gem name with the mineral bixbyite, a black isometric oxide, this naming clash is exactly why "bixbite" fell out of favor.

As a gem, look-alikes include ruby, garnet, and rubellite tourmaline; red beryl is softer than ruby and has distinct optics. Large, clean stones are usually synthetic, since natural crystals are tiny.

Bixbite, as red beryl, is used solely as a rare collector gemstone. Faceted stones are small but highly valuable, prized for color and scarcity rather than any industrial role.

Fine natural specimens are coveted by gem connoisseurs and museums. Synthetic hydrothermal red beryl provides an affordable alternative for jewelry use.

Metaphysically it shares red beryl's associations with energy, passion, and vitality, which are traditional beliefs rather than scientific facts.