Morganite: a romantic gem
Morganite is a beryl with a pink-orange colour, that recalls the salmon colour. Morganite is a “cousin” of other famous beryls like Aquamarina (when beryl is blue) and Esmerald (when beryl is green). The light pink colour of Morganite is due to manganese traces.
Following the discovery of a new locality for rose beryl in Madagascar in 1910, George Kunz proposed the name morganite at a meeting of the New York Academy of Sciences on 5 December 1910 to honor his friend and customer J.P. Morgan for his financial support for the arts and sciences, and his important gifts of gems to the American Museum of Natural History in New York and to the Museum of Natural History in Paris. Morgan was one of the most important gem collectors in the early 1900s – his collection was partly assembled by Tiffany and Company and their chief gemologist, Kunz.
