Morganite

The Morganite gemstone is a cousin to the beryl family but is considered a semi-precious stone not a precious stone like the other family members such as aquamarine or emeralds. 

It’s scale of hardness is a 7.5-8 which makes it perfect for setting in any jewelry piece. It shows in a range of pinks colors because of the manganese.

It’s a beryllium aluminum silicate, a rare pink variety of beryl and usually ranges in pink colors from pink to rose to peach and salmon. Like most gemstones, the more richly colored the gemstone, the higher it is prized and priced.

Recently this gem has seen an increase in popularity and value.

Morganite can be mined in Brazil and Madagascar, also small deposits have been found in Mozambique, Afghanistan and Russia. Although Morganite is rarer than Aquamarine, larger cuts are readily available on today’s market but has not been promoted to the jewelry buying public as much as Aquamarine and Emeralds.

Pink Morganite was first identified in Madagascar in 1910 known as pink beryl. Shortly thereafter George Kunz, a world acknowledged gemologist and buyer for Tiffany & Co. renamed it in honor of JPMorgan, US Banker and avid gemstone collector.

Even though Morganite is a hard stone, it can easily be scratched  by harder gems such as Sapphire and Diamonds.

All beryl stones are sensitive to pressure and household chemicals such as bleach and sulfuric acid.

To clean these gems, just use soapy water and soft cloth.