Image: Beryl-Quartz-morganite brazil1

Description: Beryl, Quartz Locality: Galiléia, Doce valley, Minas Gerais, Southeast Region, Brazil (Locality at mindat.org) Size: large cabinet, 27.5 x 18.5 x 17 cm Morganite with Quartz on Cleavelandite This remarkable piece dates to the 1960s heyday of Brazilian pegmatites, when spectacular pieces were found more frequently near the surface than they seem today. The piece is from a famous old deposit, which today produces beryls but nothing so impressive as what you see here. The matrix of claeavelandite is actually typical of this region, and quite nice in its own right. The morganite, though, has KILLER color, really a hot pink and a form more associated with modern material from Afghanistan than anything from Brazil. Most people would immediately peg this as an Afghani piece, I would bet (and in fact this has happened). However, the giveways are the slightly different cleavelandite (more sharp and sparkly than Paprok material) and the coloration and style of the small tourmaline included in the morganite. The morganite itself is complete in about 95% of its display area, with only a small bit in one corner restored with matching epoxy. The morganite is VERY sharp, totally undamaged otherwise, and measures 4.5 INCHES (11.2 cm) across. Believe it or not, this piece came up from Brazil in the 1970s, in a suitcase, as a specimen that was triple this current size and mass at the time. A natural history collector purchased it from the Amsterdam Sauer Museum in Rio de Janiero in around 1976. This museum was both a display for the owner's well known personal collection and a storefront for selling specimens outright. Apparently, this collector simply put it on a coffee table where it sat, unappreciated by anybody in the core mineral community, for the next 30 years. After a tipoff, I bought the piece and had it trimmed down to its current, more aesthetic and balanced size. Still, at the weight of perhaps 20 pounds and the size of a decent watermelon, "trimmed down" has a whole different meaning here.
Title: Beryl-Quartz-morganite brazil1
Credit: Image: http://www.irocks.com/db_pics/new09mix/morganite_brazil1.jpg, Description: http://www.irocks.com/render.html?species=Quartz&page=360
Author: Robert M. Lavinsky
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License: CC BY-SA 3.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
Attribution Required?: Yes