Chrysoberyl:
Five New York City Localities

While many would regard the concrete canyons of New York City to make for poor mineral collecting, the reality is that Manhattan has indeed produced a number of interesting mineral species.

In the late 19th century, four localities for chrysoberyl were documented on the northern part of the Island and Manhattan. Two different environments were observed; firstly chrysoberyl crystals occurring in pegmatite which formed veins in gneiss, and second as crystals in schist.

Audubon Avenue and 192nd Street

The earliest discovery of chrysoberyl in New York City appears to be a specimen recovered by mineral collector and dealer William Niven from near the Fort George Hill area of northern Manhattan, near the modern intersection of Audubon Avenue and 192nd Street. Chamberlin (1888) describes the chrysoberyl as “small crystals on orthoclase.” The specimen was recovered from a pegmatite vein in the gneiss which composes the bulk of northern Manhattan. Associated minerals were monazite; autunite (or meta-autunite) as “light green micaceous crystals”; a phase which Hidden tentatively identified as zircon; uraninite, as a cubo-octahedral crystal apparently at least partially altered; “gummite”, a mixture of uranium oxides and silicates; and possibly uranophane. (Anon, 1888). This specimen, Chamberlin Collection #690, was purchased by the New York Mineralogical Club after Chamberlin died, and “deposited with the American Museum of Natural History, where it still remains under mutual agreement” (Kunz, 1901).

88th Street and Amsterdam Avenue

The next discovery of chrysoberyl in Manhattan was in 1893, and occurred at an excavation site “on the north side of 88th Street near to and east of Amsterdam Avenue”, made by Wallace Goold Levison (Gratacap, 1909). This crystal, which measured 8x10x14mm, was a twin along the (031) plane, the classic twinning plane for chrysoberyl. The crystal was “a light yellowish green” resembling the chrysoberyl of Haddam, Connecticut”. An adjacent fragment of a chrysoberyl crystal was described as being more yellow in color. Although Levison exhibited the specimen at a meeting of the New York Mineralogical Club in late 1894, no formal notice of it was published until 1901. Levison allowed mineralogist A J Moses to examine and describe the specimen. Forms observed in the specimen included (100), (010), (011), (111), (121) (120), and (110). Moses believed that the specimen had probably originally been a cluster of three or four crystals, as fragments of two other crystals and crystal shaped cavities were evident. The matrix was composed of quartz and oligoclase (Moses, 1901).

In July, 1901, Levison published a short pamphlet on the specimen, entitled “Crystal of Chrysoberyl from the Borough of Manhattan, New York City”. (See the next entry for information regarding the disposition of this specimen.)





93rd Street and Riverside Park

Shortly after publishing his pamphlet on his initial discovery of chrysoberyl at the 88th Street locality, Levison made a second discovery of chrysoberyl, this time on a building site on 93rd Street where it ends at Riverside Park. As workers were removing a rock outcrop to make way for an apartment complex, a large, fragmented tabular crystal of chrysoberyl was uncovered. Kunz (1901) described the dimensions of the fragments as “8mm thick and the larger portions over 20mm in diameter.” The crystal was of a “fine,delicate green” with (100) face “broad and brilliant”. Since the crystal fragments were embedded in a matrix of quartz and oligoclase, no crystallographic measurements were possible. Gratacap (1909) also notes the presence of “bright red garnet” as an accessory mineral (probably almandine).

Levison published a revision of his pamphlet “Crystal of Chrysoberyl from the Borough of Manhattan, New York City”- doubled in length from three to six pages! - in the same year.



When Levison died in 1924, the New York Mineralogical Club attempted to acquire both the 88th Street and 93rd Street chrysoberyls from his collection. As an enticement, they offered to publish a bibliography of Levison's papers (which were quite numerous) “on condition that the heirs donate to the New York Mineralogical Club, the New York City chrysoberyl specimen from Dr. Levison's collection to be placed on permanent exhibition”(Anon, 1924). Levison's estate declined the honor, preferring to keep the specimens. In 1931, they were successful; Mr. Gilman S. Stanton announced at the January meeting of the Club that “they had secured for the Club Collection two famous specimens of chrysoberyl from New York City, formerly in the collection of the late Wallace Goold Levison” (Anon 1933). The specimens were acquired from Levison's nephew.

St. Nicholas Avenue and 164th Street

In 1910, Herbert P. Whitlock received a specimen from James J Manchester (probably a typographic error for James G. Manchester, who would later pen “The Minerals of New York City and Environs”. The crystal was a 5x8mm light yellowish green prismatic crystal embedded in Manhattan schist. While the termination was too rough to measure, Whitlock was able to identify forms (100), (010), (11.3.0), (110), (120), (130) and (370) (Whitlock, 1912).


122nd Street and Morningside Park

The 1909 Annual Report for the American Museum of Natural History notes that it received a chrysoberyl specimen from Alfred C Hawkins that had been found near the intersection of 122nd Street and Morningside Park. (Anon. 1910)

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Bibliography

Anon (1888a)
“Mr. William Hidden”
Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences
Vol 7, May 1888

Anon (1910)
Forty-First Annual Report of the American Museum of Natural History For the Year 1909
New York 1910 (Accessions, page 80)

Anon. (1924)
NEW YORK MINERALOGICAL CLUB
Minutes of the Meeting of February 15th, 1933
American Mineralogist vol 9 p210

Anon. (1933)
NEW YORK MINERALOGICAL CLUB
Minutes of the Meeting of February 15th, 1933
American Mineralogist vol 19 p233

Chamberlin, B B (1888)
“The Minerals of New York County”
Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences
Vol 7, May 1888

Gratacap, L. P
Geology of New York
New York, 1909

Kunz, G F
“Precious Stones”
In: Day, David T
Mineral Resources of the United States 1901
United States Geological Survey
Washington 1902

Levison, Wallace Goold
Crystal of Chrysoberyl from the Borough of Manhattan, New York City.
New York 1901

Moses, A J (1901)
“Mineralogical Notes”
American Journal of Science 4th Series Vol 12 No 67 (1901)

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