GEM ♡ LOVE ♡: Morganite!

Morganite is one of the MOST beautiful gemstones---so soft and feminine, and to me would make an ideal engagement ring.  Well, it's sometimes called "the love stone" because of its romantic, blush pink color!   It's a member of the Beryl family that includes my other two favorite gemstones:  Emerald and Aquamarine.   Whereas Emerald can be very included, Morganite is rarely included, so it's a clear and sparkling stone!

Morganite was first discovered in California in the early 20th Century!  It was originally called "pink beryl" but renamed to Morganite in 1911 after J. P. Morgan, an American banker and collector, in honor of his gemological and mineral contributions to the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Morgan was an avid collector and a customer of Tiffany's, where much of the country's morganite was sold at that time.

Morganite can also be found in Madagascar, and a few small deposits have been found in Brazil, Russia, Mozambique, Namibia, and Afghanistan.

Morganite is often heat treated to achieve pinker colors, and its natural color is a soft peach color.  Heating removes the yellow or orange hues that are natural to the gem. It can be found in all color ranges (natural and heated) from peach to soft pink to salmon---always soft colors.  It is a 7.5 or 8 on the Mohs scale, so it's a nice, hard stone that is suitable for everyday wear.

The largest faceted morganite is a 598.70-carat cushion-shaped gem from Madagascar that can be found in the British Museum collection.   I've searched everywhere but I can't find a picture of this stone.  Darn!  I'd like to see it!!

Someone has recently bought up a large amount of Morganite and is trying to market it as a very expensive re-branded "Pink Emerald", and they have a 169-ct. faceted stone going for....brace yourself....$2.6 MILLION, touting it as "near flawless".  Well, good luck to them---Morganite is always near flawless, but a stone that large would be rare.  Pink Emerald is pretty much a stupid name, as emerald is synonymous with GREEN---what's next, " Sea Blue Emerald"?  (That would be Aquamarine...)