AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 5, 2012 — Elisha Ralph Morgan has gone where few other gem-hunters have gone before. He is well-known as an expert on diamond, ruby, sapphire, emerald and antique jewelry as well as rare natural pearls and fancy colored diamonds. His travels have taken him to Sri Lanka, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Namibia, Zambia, Ghana, Russia, Pakistan, and British Guyana. He has safeguarded the lives of fellow gemologists while purchasing numerous gem species in rough and finished form while abroad, doubling as a multi-talented asset in the gemological community.
When Elisha Ralph Morgan's best friend, Army Sergeant and Medic Tom "Doc" Stone, was killed on his third active duty Army deployment to Afghanistan in March 2006, it hit Morgan pretty hard. They had been friends since high school, had played on the football team together and both joined the service after graduating high school. In September 2006, Morgan accepted a Naval Special Warfare "Mentoring" position in Texas, training aspiring SEAL and Special Ops candidates for the Navy. His friend Tom Stone had joined the Army, becoming an Airborne Ranger, and Morgan became a Navy SEAL stationed at SEAL Team One on the U.S. Naval Amphibious Base in Coronado, Calif. After Morgan's second Navy enlistment, he was honorably discharged from SEAL Team Four in February 1986.
Wishing to utilize his amphibious as well as land-based talents Morgan attended the Gemological Institute of America's Graduate Gemologist program in residence, then located in Santa Monica, Calif., graduating with honors – and thus began a second career as a sought-after gem-hunter, appraiser and executor of gem missions worldwide.
Morgan has participated in numerous charitable fundraising events, including appraisal programs for libraries, museums, women's groups and the Settlement Home for disadvantaged and abused teenage girls in Texas. He is a past governing board member of the Accredited Gemologists Association of America as well as a senior member of the same.
Due to his frequent travels, Elisha Ralph Morgan can be reached via email at Email or by phone: 512-608-2524.
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