Morganite - Specimen

Locality: Afghanistan (exact locality unknown)

Morganite is the pink to orange-pink variety of beryl, the mineral that also includes emerald and aquamarine. Its colour comes from traces of manganese. Beryl is a beryllium aluminium silicate, Be₃Al₂Si₆O₁₈, with a hardness of 7.5 to 8, and it most often forms in granites and granite pegmatites alongside quartz, feldspar and mica.

After a new source of rose beryl was found in Madagascar, the gemmologist George F. Kunz proposed the name morganite on 5 December 1910 at a meeting of the New York Academy of Sciences. He named it for the financier J. P. Morgan, a major gem collector, in recognition of his support for the arts and sciences and his gifts of gem collections to museums in New York and Paris.

Kunz noted that morganite glows an intense cherry red under X-rays. Morganite is also strongly pleochroic, showing pale pink and deeper bluish pink in different directions, so gem cutters orient the rough carefully. One of the largest crystals ever found, the "Rose of Maine", came from the Bennet Quarry in Buckfield, Maine, in 1989 and weighed just over 50 pounds.

This one of a kind morganite specimen is a natural example of pink beryl, offered as a mineral display piece from Afghanistan; the exact mine is not recorded. Morganite gets its color from trace amounts of manganese within the beryl structure, which can produce soft pink, peach, or salmon tones depending on the chemistry and the way the crystal formed. As a member of the beryl family, it is chemically related to emerald and aquamarine, but identified specifically by its manganese-colored pink variety.

Morganite was named in the early 20th century in honor of financier and gem collector J. P. Morgan, during a period when important new gem discoveries were being formally described and classified. In specimen form, morganite is valued for its natural crystal structure and clean beryl habit, while gem-quality material is also cut for jewelry. This piece is best appreciated as a one of a kind mineral specimen rather than a calibrated gem, with its appeal centered on natural formation, collector value, and mineral identity.

Quantity: 1pc
With this product, you will get the actual stone in the photograph.