Beryl var. Morganite on Microcline (ex Harvard)

Item Description

This is actually very uncommon for the locale in aesthetic specimens - the beryl variety morganite crystal is translucent, pastel-pink and is 3.6 cm long. It is jauntily set upright on the smoky quartz matrix and is very nicely accented by the very sharp, 2.8 cm, snow-white microcline crystal. Though not gemmy, this is a significant morganite combination specimen. The quarry was worked intermittently until 1944 and is now closed. The famous Gillette Quarry (1896) was the second US locality to produce gem tourmalines, after the Maine pegmatites and just before the Himalaya Mine started production (1898). All ugly old rocks are loved from here, by somebody, and this is indeed what passed for peach or rose colored beryl for many years, and was treasured in many important collections of the turn of the 1900s. Ex HARVARD Museum Collection by deaccession some years ago. valued $500-750.