The Birth of Morganite

Morganite, namely pink beryl, after emerald and aquamarine, which belong to the beryl family, had already become popular, finally attracted people's attention with its dreamy and soft pink color and became a new upstart in the gemstone world.

In 1910, George F. Kunz, the chief gemologist of Tiffany & Co. and a renowned mineralogist (also the discoverer of kunzite), found an extremely unique pink gemstone in Madagascar. To express his gratitude to his friend and loyal customer, Mr. John P. Morgan, Kunz named this gemstone "Morganite" (Chinese translation: 摩根石).

John P. Morgan was not only a financial tycoon in the United States, that is, the founder of the "Morgan" financial group in the well-known "Morgan Stanley" and "JPMorgan Chase", but also a famous art and jewelry collector, and the most important gemstone collector and patron of Charles L. Tiffany, the founder of Tiffany. This connection has made Morgan's name spread along with the gemstone he loved.

Due to its relatively late discovery, morganite does not have ancient and mysterious legends, but this does not prevent it from winning people's love with its own qualities. It has a soft pink appearance, large and transparent crystals, and very few impurities and cracks, making it a gemstone material that is very suitable for cutting and processing. Its elegant color is considered a symbol of "divine love", representing passion, healing, and commitment.

The Rise of Morganite

As the discoverer of morganite, Tiffany & Co. has always had a unique vision for gemstones. Kunzite, tanzanite, tsavorite, etc., which are popular in the jewelry market now, were also made famous by Tiffany.

In 2012, Tiffany's jewelry craftsmen spent several months designing a luxurious necklace using a 175.72-carat morganite to commemorate its 175th anniversary. A 2-carat diamond was inlaid in the middle of the bow, and the peach-pink morganite was placed in the bow ribbon made of diamonds, looking light and agile.

Figure 3: Tiffany's 175th anniversary morganite necklace (The picture source is Tiffany's official website)

In 2011, Christie's auctioned a necklace inlaid with aquamarine, morganite, and diamonds produced by Tiffany. The soft blue color of the aquamarine and the dreamy pink color of the morganite complemented each other, looking fresh and beautiful. Just like the combination of blue diamonds and pink diamonds, these two "sisters" in the beryl family have also become common partners in jewelry (especially earrings).

Figure 4: Tiffany's diamond necklace with aquamarine and morganite as the main stones (The picture source is Christie's official website)

Now, more and more well-known jewelry brands such as Cartier, Harry Winston, CHAUMET, Boucheron, etc. are also competing to use morganite as the main element to design their works. Since morganite often produces large crystals with high clarity and can be easily matched with the colors of other gemstones, it is believed that designers will discover more unique charm of morganite in the future.

Figure 5: In 2017, Christie's auctioned a ladies' hidden watch designed and made by Cartier. A marquise-shaped morganite covered the dial, which has both practicality and decorative value (The picture source is Christie's official website)

Minerals in the beryl family belong to beryllium aluminum silicate, and their different colors are caused by different trace elements. The pink color of morganite is usually considered to be related to the trace element Mn, but the specific coloration mechanism has not been determined yet.

Figure 6: Orange-pink morganite. Photographed by Deng Kaiyin; Copyright © Guild Gem Laboratory

Table 1: The basic gemological characteristics of morganite ↓

Some scholars believe that the color of morganite is related to the d-d transition of Mn3+ occupying the Al site (Solntsev and Bukin, 1997), and some scholars believe that the color of morganite is due to the presence of Mn2+ during the initial formation, but it turns pink after crystallization and exposure to natural ionizing radiation. (Laurs et al., 2003)

Figure 7: Light pink morganite. Photographed by Deng Kaiyin; Copyright © Guild Gem Laboratory

Figure 8: Vivid pink morganite. Photographed by Deng Kaiyin; Copyright © Guild Gem Laboratory

Morganite can present a series of pink tones such as orange-pink, peach-pink, salmon pink, light pink, vivid pink, pink, and purple-pink. The crystals usually have high transparency and few inclusions, and occasionally there are tiny crystal inclusions and a very small number of raindrop-like inclusions.

Figure 9: The initial cleavage of morganite distributed perpendicular to the C-axis inside; Field of view: 1.88mm. Photographed by Shan Mengjie; Copyright © Guild Gem Laboratory

Figure 10: The crystal inclusions inside morganite, the crystals are usually very small and in small quantities; Field of view: 0.80mm. Photographed by Shan Mengjie; Copyright © Guild Gem Laboratory

The ultraviolet-visible spectrum of pink morganite shows an absorption band centered at 550nm and an absorption peak at 957nm (Figure 11); the ultraviolet-visible spectrum of orange-pink morganite shows absorption bands centered at 475nm and 835nm and an absorption peak at 957nm (Figure 12).

Figure 11: The ultraviolet-visible absorption spectrum of pink morganite

The Genesis and Origin of Morganite

Most morganite is produced in rare metal granite pegmatite deposits. A large number of alkali metal elements enter the pore channels of the beryl structure through ion exchange, forming morganite rich in Mn, Cs, and Li. Associated minerals commonly include spodumene, albite, and lepidolite, etc. (Shigley and Kampf, 1984).

Figure 13: The Rose of Maine is a gem-quality morganite rough stone approximately 23cm long and 30cm wide. It was discovered in Maine, the United States in 1989. The crystal is orange-pink and has a hexagonal short columnar shape. The photo was taken by Wayne Flander (The picture source is the official website of the State of Maine)

Morganite was first discovered in Madagascar, which is located in the southeastern part of Africa and is the fourth largest island in the world. Geologists believe that Madagascar separated from the Gondwana supercontinent in the Southern Hemisphere during the Mesozoic era. After several long-term magmatic activities in the geological history, it has become a unique "natural ore museum". In addition to rich metal minerals, emerald, aquamarine, ruby, sapphire, tourmaline, crystal, garnet, etc. are all the advantageous gemstone resources of this country. Especially in the plateau mountainous areas in the central and eastern part of the island, there are pegmatite veins distributed, and a large number of gemstones, including morganite, are produced in them.

At present, the morganite on the market mainly comes from the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil. In addition to Madagascar, the earliest discovery place, there are also production areas in Russia, the United States (California and Maine), Mozambique, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Namibia, and Pakistan, as well as in Xinjiang and Yunnan in China.

Figure 14: The morganite rough stone from the Taquaral mine in Minas Gerais, Brazil, about 6.2×6.7×4.3cm. The crystal is clear and the color is soft and beautiful. It was an item in the Poly Beijing 2018 Autumn Auction (The picture source is the polypm website)

The common  and treatment methods of morganite include heat treatment and irradiation treatment, etc.

Morganite is often heat-treated to remove yellow or orange tones to produce a purer pink tone. The color of heat-treated morganite is very stable and will not fade. It belongs to optimization and has been widely accepted by the market.

The common radiation sources for the irradiation treatment of morganite are gamma rays, high-energy electrons, neutrons, etc., with the aim of improving the color of morganite, and it is often not easy to detect. Irradiation-treated morganite appeared on the Japanese market in 2010, usually showing a relatively vivid orange-pink color, and occasionally showing a vivid orange color that is not common in nature. Usually, the radioactivity of morganite circulated in the market is at a safe level.