Taaffeite, a new beryllium mineral, found as a cut gemstone

Abstract

In October 1945 Count Taaffe, a brilliant if unorthodox Dublin gemmologist, in the course of examining a motley collection of gemstones, came across a small mauve stone which puzzled him greatly. The stone had the appearance, and most of thc characters, of spinel, but afforded clear evidence of double refraction. As recounted below, this stone was later found to belong to an entirely new mineral species-—the only case hitherto known where a mineral has been first encountered as a faceted gem.