Rare Kimberley Diamond and Other Treasures on View in New York City

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If you’re in Manhattan during the coming year, don’t miss one of the most extraordinary diamonds in the world, the rare 55.08 carat champagne colored Kimberley diamond on loan to the American Museum of Natural History through June 2014. Cut from a 490-carat crystal discovered in the 19th century at the Kimberley Mine in South Africa, this legendary diamond has been cut twice – once in 1921 and again in 1958 to an emerald shape to bring out its incredible brilliancy.

And that’s not all you’ll see at this fabulous Victorian Gothic museum overlooking Central Park. The American Museum of Natural History is one of my favorite museums in the world. Since I was a kid to this very day, I never miss an opportunity to visit and draw inspiration from their amazing collection of gems and minerals.

The Gem and Mineral Hall has a vast assortment of polished and raw gems including diamonds, sapphires and rubies, emeralds, opals, garnets, synthetic gemstones, and precious metals in all sizes and colors. It is home to two especially fabulous jewels – one of the largest uncut gem quality emeralds in the world, the 12-sided 632 carat

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Patricia Emerald discovered in Columbia in 1920 and named for the mine-owner’s daughter; and the extraordinary 2 billion year old 563 carat Star of India, the world’s largest blue sapphire. It was discovered over 300 years ago in Sri Lanka and donated to the museum by J.P. Morgan. This huge dome shaped cabochon creates a radiant, six-pointed star effect from incoming light that reflects needle-like crystals within the sapphire.

The galleries also contain literally tons of rare minerals from all over the world including a 596 lb. topaz crystal from Brazil, a 4.5 ton block of blue azurite/malacihite (see below) discovered in the early 20th century at the Copper Queen mine in Bisbee, AZ, a rare 100 carat orange colored sapphire from Sri Lanka and the 115.75 carat deep purplish red Midnight Star Ruby.

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In 1964, like a a scene in a Hitchcock movie, jewel thieves broke into the museum by climbing through a bathroom window they had unlocked hours before the museu

m closed. They made off with the Star of India, the Eagle Diamond, the de Long Ruby and other fabulous gems. Believe it or not, the Star of India and other gems were eventually recovered from a locker in a Miami bus

station, but to this day the Eagle Diamond has not been found and may have been re-cut or lost forever.

If you can’t make it to New York, there are other wonderful collections around the country. To name just two – there’s the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History which boasts a fabulous watermelon tourmaline specimen and huge touchable examples of pyrite or “fool’s gold” and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science which has a 6 ft wall of Rhodochrosite and an actual mine you can enter.

And if you want to explore minerals from the comfort of your computer, tune in to the Mystery of the Hope Diamond on the Smithsonian Channel.

Future posts will discuss the spectacular world of stalactites.