Museum of Natural History

[pregcurious]

I previously posted a thread with publically available pics of some high end jewelry pieces at the Museum of Natural History. This time, I took pics of gemstones in the more general displays.

If you have never been to this museum, the first 2 rooms hold the Hope Diamond, and high end jewelry pieces and stones I previously posted about ([URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/museum-of-natural-history-dc.168110/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/museum-of-natural-history-dc.168110/[/URL]). The focus is on diamonds (colored and white), sapphires, emeralds, and rubies. There is even a cat's eye chrysoberyl, but it is quite brown.

Once you go beyond the first 2 rooms, the gallery opens to large cased displays. I took pictures of the first ones on the left, and a display on the right that shows topazes.

Pictures coming...

 

[pregcurious]

The first display on the left had a myriad of gemstones in rainbow order.

 

[pregcurious]

The next case on the left side of the gallery showed copper bearing gems. I did not take a close up of this case because I was sad about the lack of a Paraiba tourmaline.

The 2nd pic is of cases 3, 4, and 5 on the left. I will post closeups of these shortly.

 

[pregcurious]

Case #3 (pictured in the previous post) contained beryls. They were lovely. Here are closeups.





Case #4 (pictured in the previous post) contained fluorite. Here are closeups

 

[pregcurious]

Case #5 (the right most case in the picture with the 3 cases together, in the 2nd post) contained garnets.

Closeups:

 

[chrono]

Lovely and thank you for the pictures. Need MORE closeups, please.

 

[pregcurious]

Okay, here come the corundum (Case 6), with 3 closeups.

 

[pregcurious]

Last pics. On the right of the gallery was a separate display for topaz. Wow. I have never seen topaz like this. I am pretty hard to impress, and this was amazing. The colors remind me of the most beautiful sapphires, but topaz has a brilliance that I have not seen in saturated pink, orange or yellow sapphires. I understand why topaz in these colors are so prized.

 

[pregcurious]

You're so welcome Chrono. I wish you could have been there with me. You live near here, yes? I am in MD.

There were additional cases that were really beautiful, but I did not take pictures. There was a beautiful pearl display, and a display of materials that show adularescence and asterism. I tried taking pics of those, but the effect was lost in photos.

Going through the displays gave me a better appreciation of which specific types of stones show vivid color, and why these stones have a heavy price tag. I wish that wulfenite was a harder material.

 

[chrono]

Yes, within driving distance, possibly 2 to 3 hours away. I am enjoying the pictures, putting my eye up close to the monitor, in futile hopes of getting a better look.

 

[pregcurious]

Chrono, let me know if you there is something you would like to see better. These are medium resolution pics. I can take the original high resolution pic and blow it up for you if there is something specific you would like to see.

 

[chrono]

These for starters.

And thank you.

 

[movie zombie]

wow, some great crystals.....and very large yet lovely windowed stones!

thank you for sharing with us!

 

[motownmama]

I love stuff like this. People should also ck out the Grainger Hall of Gems at the Field Museum in Chicago!!!!!!

 

[T L]

I love stuff like this. People should also ck out the Grainger Hall of Gems at the Field Museum in Chicago!!!!!!

I opened a thread on that one!!

[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/chicago-field-museum-grainger-hall-of-gems.134056/page-3']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/chicago-field-museum-grainger-hall-of-gems.134056/page-3[/URL]

Pregcurious,
Thank you for the photos, they're awesome!!

 

[LoversKites]

Jeez, much nicer exhibition than the museums I've been to. Great pics for ogling. A red rhodochrisite like that... I need one!

 

[pregcurious]

For Chrono. (I was just thinking of that guy who called you "Chrono man")

 

[pregcurious]

Here is a pic from the Smithsonian of the spinel bracelet, and a link to their page about it. There page has more pics:
http://geogallery.si.edu/index.php/en/1006093/spinel-bracelet

Can you imagine wearing this? It epitomizes what I like about gems and gold.

 

[pregcurious]

The last blow up is below.

I searched for these on the Smithsonian website, and could not find them. Nonetheless, here are my search results for "rhodochrosite" in the gem gallery.
http://geogallery.si.edu/index.php/en/search/rhodochrosite

 

[pregcurious]

Moviezombie, yes, there were a lot of windows. I could forgive the windows for the rare stones because they were still stunning. The Hope Diamond is also very gray, but it's fascinating to see this color in a diamond. It still sparkles. That's how I felt about the topaz; they carry saturated color so well, like a diamond.

Motownmama, Loverskites, I'm glad you're enjoying the pics.

TL, I am going over to your thread. Yeah!

 

[deskjockey]

Wow. I need to make this a day trip

 

[pregcurious]

Deskjockey, it's worth the trip. The gallery itself is not huge, but a piece of the Museum of Natural History. If you make a trip of it, and you want to play with jewelry, you could also visit Tiny Jewel Box in DC. The first floor has really nice designer pieces for shopping for erings and settings in general. I saw some lovely Sebastien Barier Jewelry pieces there. They also have a few of their own custom pieces with colored stones. The last time I was there, they had a stunning tanzanite that I thought was sapphire, and a small number of other colored stones (rubies and emeralds)

Martin Fuller is also located about 45 minutes away in VA if you want to get a top notch appraisal. He did an appraisal of my red spinel, and it was worth every penny for how much I learned as he examined it. Its difficult to find anyone who knows much about spinels (outside of PS!).

 

[deskjockey]

I might have to, the trick is going without my 2 yr old full-time attendant. haha

My friends and I may go for the horse show later in October, so could probably work it in

 

[pregcurious]

I go a few times a year. I'll take more pics the next time, but I also have my own small personal attendants. There was a blue topaz crystal the size of my head. A large portion of it was eye clean.

 

[movie zombie]

Moviezombie, yes, there were a lot of windows. I could forgive the windows for the rare stones because they were still stunning. The Hope Diamond is also very gray, but it's fascinating to see this color in a diamond. It still sparkles. That's how I felt about the topaz; they carry saturated color so well, like a diamond......!

I agree! as much as I dislike windows one has to accept that in certain sizes they are going to be there. most important is preserving all that color!

windowed or not I wouldn't turn down pretty much any of those large sparkly beauties!

 

[chrono]

I am glad I asked for more pictures of the Reds. Mr. Chrono says thanks.

 

[pregcurious]

The spikey spinel bracelet is like Medieval Biker Chic. It was more pink in real life, and less saturated.

The difference in the online pictures and what I saw in real life might be a reflection of the different lighting used for photos versus display. I noticed that the Smithsonian online pictures of their rubies are more towards orange (true red), than the rubies in person. In person, they look more pink (towards purple), but again that might be lighting. I am also very sensitive to pink, more so than an orange modifier.

 

[dk168]

Lovely pics, thanks for sharing.

DK

 

[soberguy]

The topaz!!! Wow!!!!!

 

[MelodySaw]

Thanks so much for the post and pictures. I will take a visit too. I wish they have a Jadeite collection.