There are actually quite a lot of pink coloured gemstones. There are transparent crystal ones, like pink sapphires, kunzite, spinel, tourmaline, rhodalite garnet and morganite, opaque gems like rhodachrosite and rhodenite, and organic gems like pink pearls and angel skin coral.

I have chosen a selection of pink gems to talk about – pink sapphires, morganite, rose quartz, pearls and angle skin coral. The ring at the top of the post has a large central morganite plus a border of darker pink sapphires. Pink sapphires belong to the corundrum gem family, along with blue and other coloured sapphires as well as rubies.

Vintage morganite earrings

The earrings in the photo above are also morganite. Morganites (also known as pink beryl) belong to the beryl gem family, along with emeralds and aquamarines. They can vary in colour from a soft pink through to a pinky salmon. Pink beryl was named morganite after J P Morgan, the American financier and banker. When a new source of pink beryl was discovered in 1910 in Madacascar,  George Kunz, a gemmologist who worked for Tiffany & Co, suggested its name become morganite to acknowledge J P Morgan’s financial support for the sciences and the arts.

Angel skin coral ring

Corallium coral, precious coral, is more commonly seen in orange to red colours but angel skin coral ranges in colour from a pale pink through to a light pinkish salmon colour. The coral in the ring in the photo above is a light pinkish salmon colour.

Freshwater pink pearls

The lovely strand of pink pearls shown above comes from China as a result of experimentation in the early 1990s about how to improve the quality of their freshwater pearls. The pearl mussel, Hyriopsis Cumingii, is used to produce these beautiful freshwater pearls. The pearl colour depends on the colour of the shell and can be white, purple, peach or pink. The pearls can reach sizes bigger than 15 mm in diameter.

Chinese export silver jade and rose quartz bracelet

The final pink gem is rose quartz which is a lovely pale pink gemstone. It usually has a lot of internal clutter – fissures and suspended matter. It is used for cabochons and beads, sometimes earrings and pendant. The photo above of a Chinese export silver bracelet set with rose quartz and jade is a good example of how it is used in jewellery.