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Morganite: Myth vs. Reality

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Shiny_Rock
Joined
Jul 25, 2005
Messages
223
After many years buying various types of colored gemstone jewelry, I took the plunge and bought a nice peachy-pink Morganite pendant from JTV, which was disclosed only as “irradiated". (I know JTV isn’t a high-end retailer or site sponsor here on PS but I love the challenge of stacking various deals and discounts. I have returned a lot of stuff but also come away with some very good purchases over the years. I also have a morganite ring on the way.)

At any rate, I belatedly came to appreciate that “morganite fades” is mentioned quite a bit on the Internet, including Pricescope. (It seems to be the PS consensus that pink sapphire, spinel and tourmaline are all preferable to morganite.)

I collect earth-mined Zircon (birthstone) and also live in a high elevation environment. It doesn’t take much time outdoors to turn Zircons various shades of brown. (The color shift can often be corrected by subjecting the Zircon to incandescent light around the clock for a couple days but incandescent light bulbs are all but outlawed where I live.) With that in mind, I’m trying to get a handle on how vulnerable Morganite is in practice vs. a gemstone I already know much more about (Zircon).

From GIA on a page titled “Morganite Quality Factors”:

"The gem is almost always heat-treated to improve the pink color. The treatment is not detectable. Heat drives off the yellow or orange tinge, leaving a purer and more attractive pink. The resulting color is stable and won’t fade.”

GIA’s “Morganite Care and Cleaning” page says:

"Heat exposure is not recommended for morganite, but under light exposure, its color is stable and won’t fade."

So far, I have only found one very dated reference on GemologyOnline.com to having personally observed morganite fade from sunlight, alone:

"I sent those samples to a friend in the States who I visited last week. The rocks had been sitting on his desk, in sunlight, since he received them and the blue sample had completely faded into a silvery grey."

Given how popular morganite has become the past 20-some years in bridal jewelry, I would expect to stumble across numerous complaints if morganite was nearly as vulnerable as Zircon, Kunzite, etc. So far, however, I have come up empty. (If anyone knows otherwise, however, feel free to share links.)

If I had any unwanted morganite lying around — of course I don’t — I might be inclined to sacrifice it in a UV-only vs. heat-only experiment. :bigsmile: For this reason, I hope this topic can help sort out "morganite myth vs. reality”.

1) To any/all morganite owners out there: Have you personally experienced unwanted color changes in your morganite? (If so, was it with daily wear or light use?)

2) GIA mentions heat, not sunlight. By “heat", how hot are we talking? Interior of a hot car? Baked in an oven hot? How much is too much?

3) Is it possible that Morganite has improperly acquired the fading reputation of pink Kunzite because they are visually similar?

4) Is there anybody else on the order of a GIA that has published on the “morganite fades” topic?

Thanks! :read:
 
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....someone i read on here was a shop owner who had them fade in the window display i think i recall
@Garry H (Cut Nut) was it you ?
 
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