Allison and Roberto Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals

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The Allison and Roberto Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals are a series of exhibition halls at the American Museum of Natural History on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, New York City. The halls opened on June 12, 2021, as a complete redesign of their predecessors, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Hall of Gems and Minerals and Morgan Memorial Hall of Gems. [1] The halls feature thousands of rare gems, mineral specimens and pieces of jewelry. [2]

Contents

History

The Star of India, one of many gems stolen in a 1964 heist; it was later recovered from a bus locker. Star of India Gem.JPG
The Star of India, one of many gems stolen in a 1964 heist; it was later recovered from a bus locker.

The Mignone Halls replaced two permanent exhibits, the Guggenheim and Morgan Memorial halls, which previously displayed specimens from the museum's mineral and gem collections. The Harry Frank Guggenheim Hall of Minerals housed hundreds of unusual geological specimens. It adjoined the Morgan Memorial Hall of Gems that showcased many rare, and valuable gemstones. At the time of its completion in 1976, the Guggenheim Hall was praised as "one of the finest museum installations that New York or any city has seen in some years" by New York Times critic Paul Goldberger, who also complimented the space for its dynamic use of curves, ramps, steps, and level changes, and soft atmosphere. [3]

The Guggenheim and Morgan halls featured the Star of India, the Eagle Diamond, the DeLong Star Ruby and the Midnight Star, which were stolen from the museum on October 29, 1964. [4] The burglars, who included Jack Murphy, gained entrance by climbing through a bathroom window they had unlocked hours before the museum was closed. The DeLong Star Ruby and the Midnight Star were both recovered. Weeks later, the Star of India was later recovered from a locker in a Miami bus station, but the Eagle Diamond was never found; it may have been recut or lost. [5] The DeLong Star Ruby was recovered for a $25,000 ransom, paid by Florida businessman John D. MacArthur. [6] By 2017, the same features that had made the exhibit cutting-edge were seen as outdated. The vice president for exhibitions at the museum compared the old layout to a labyrinth, and called it mysterious. [7] On October 26, 2017, the exhibit closed to undergo a $32 million redesign by Ralph Appelbaum Associates. [2] [8] The redesigned halls were scheduled to be completed in 2020 to correspond with the museum's 150th anniversary, but their reopening was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. [9] On June 12, 2021, the renovated halls reopened to the general public. [7]

Exhibits

Old exhibits

On display were many renowned samples that were chosen from among the museum's more than 100,000 pieces. Among these were the Patricia Emerald, a 632 carat (126 g) stone that is considered one of the world's great emeralds for its size and color, and also because it is dihexagonal, or 12-sided. [10] It was discovered in 1920 in a mine high in the Colombian Andes. The Patricia is one of the few large gem-quality emeralds that remains uncut. [11] Also on display was the 563 carat (113 g) Star of India, the largest, and most famous, star sapphire in the world. It was discovered over 300 years ago in Sri Lanka,[ citation needed ] most likely in the sands of ancient river beds from where sapphires continue to be found today. It was donated to the museum by the financier J.P. Morgan. The thin, radiant, six pointed star, or asterism, is created by incoming light that reflects from needle-like crystals of the mineral rutile which are found within the sapphire. The Star of India is polished into the shape of a cabochon, or dome, to enhance the star's beauty. [12] Among other notable specimens on display were a 596-pound (270 kg) topaz, a 4.5 ton block of blue azurite/malachite ore that was found in the Copper Queen Mine in Bisbee, Arizona at the start of the 20th century; [13] and a rare, 100 carat (20 g) orange-colored padparadschan sapphire from Sri Lanka, considered "the mother of all pads." [14] The collection also included the Midnight Star Ruby, a 116.75-carat deep purplish-red star ruby.

New exhibits

The new exhibits explore a range of topics, including the diversification of mineral species over the course of Earth's history, plate tectonics, and the stories of specific gems. [7] They have adopted newer philosophies in exhibit design, including a focus on storytelling, interactivity, and connecting ideas across disciplines. [7]

Notable exhibits include:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emerald</span> Green gemstone, a beryl variety

Emerald is a gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl (Be3Al2(SiO3)6) colored green by trace amounts of chromium or sometimes vanadium. Beryl has a hardness of 7.5–8 on the Mohs scale. Most emeralds have lots of material trapped inside during the gem's formation, so their toughness (resistance to breakage) is classified as generally poor. Emerald is a cyclosilicate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gemstone</span> Piece of mineral crystal used to make jewelry

A gemstone is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks and occasionally organic materials that are not minerals are also used for jewelry and are therefore often considered to be gemstones as well. Most gemstones are hard, but some soft minerals are used in jewelry because of their luster or other physical properties that have aesthetic value. Rarity and notoriety are other characteristics that lend value to gemstones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sapphire</span> Gem variety of corundum

Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide (α-Al2O3) with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, cobalt, lead, chromium, vanadium, magnesium, boron, and silicon. The name sapphire is derived via the Latin "sapphirus" from the Greek "sappheiros", which referred to lapis lazuli. It is typically blue, but natural "fancy" sapphires also occur in yellow, purple, orange, and green colors; "parti sapphires" show two or more colors. Red corundum stones also occur, but are called rubies rather than sapphires. Pink-colored corundum may be classified either as ruby or sapphire depending on locale. Commonly, natural sapphires are cut and polished into gemstones and worn in jewelry. They also may be created synthetically in laboratories for industrial or decorative purposes in large crystal boules. Because of the remarkable hardness of sapphires – 9 on the Mohs scale (the third hardest mineral, after diamond at 10 and moissanite at 9.5) – sapphires are also used in some non-ornamental applications, such as infrared optical components, high-durability windows, wristwatch crystals and movement bearings, and very thin electronic wafers, which are used as the insulating substrates of special-purpose solid-state electronics such as integrated circuits and GaN-based blue LEDs. Sapphire is the birthstone for September and the gem of the 45th anniversary. A sapphire jubilee occurs after 65 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Topaz</span> Silicate mineral

Topaz is a silicate mineral of aluminium and fluorine with the chemical formula Al2SiO4(F,OH)2. It is used as a gemstone in jewelry and other adornments. Common topaz in its natural state is colorless, though trace element impurities can make it pale blue or golden brown to yellow orange. Topaz is often treated with heat or radiation to make it a deep blue, reddish-orange, pale green, pink, or purple.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruby</span> Variety of corundum, mineral, gemstone

A ruby is a pinkish red to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum. Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapphires. Ruby is one of the traditional cardinal gems, alongside amethyst, sapphire, emerald, and diamond. The word ruby comes from ruber, Latin for red. The color of a ruby is due to the element chromium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chrysoberyl</span> Mineral or gemstone of beryllium aluminate

The mineral or gemstone chrysoberyl is an aluminate of beryllium with the formula BeAl2O4. The name chrysoberyl is derived from the Greek words χρυσός chrysos and βήρυλλος beryllos, meaning "a gold-white spar". Despite the similarity of their names, chrysoberyl and beryl are two completely different gemstones, although they both contain beryllium. Chrysoberyl is the third-hardest frequently encountered natural gemstone and lies at 8.5 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness, between corundum (9) and topaz (8).

Lustre is the way light interacts with the surface of a crystal, rock, or mineral. The word traces its origins back to the Latin lux, meaning "light", and generally implies radiance, gloss, or brilliance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Star of India (gem)</span> 563.35-carat star sapphire

The Star of India is a 563.35-carat star sapphire, one of the largest such gems in the world. It is almost flawless and is unusual in that it has stars on both sides of the stone. The greyish-blue gem was mined in Sri Lanka and is housed in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inclusion (mineral)</span> Material trapped inside a mineral during formation

In mineralogy, an inclusion is any material that is trapped inside a mineral during its formation. In gemology, an inclusion is a characteristic enclosed within a gemstone, or reaching its surface from the interior.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asterism (gemology)</span>

An asterism is a star-shaped concentration of light reflected or refracted from a gemstone. It can appear when a suitable stone is cut en cabochon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Logan Sapphire</span> 423-carat blue sapphire

The Logan Sapphire is a 422.98-carat (84.596 g) sapphire from Sri Lanka. One of the largest blue faceted sapphires in the world, it was owned by Sir Victor Sassoon and then purchased by M. Robert Guggenheim as a gift for his wife, Rebecca Pollard Guggenheim, who donated the sapphire to the Smithsonian Institution in 1960. The sapphire's name is derived from Rebecca's new surname after she later married John A. Logan. It has been on display in the National Gem Collection of the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., since 1971. It is a mixed cushion-cut sapphire, approximately the size of a large chicken egg, and set in a silver and gold brooch surrounded by 20 round brilliant-cut diamonds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eagle Diamond</span>

The Eagle Diamond is a gemstone discovered in Eagle, Wisconsin in 1876 that was about 16 carats. It was found on a hillside about 30 feet below the surface in glacial till while digging a well. It was one of more than a dozen rare gems stolen in a heist from the American Museum of Natural History in 1964 and remains missing to this day.

<i>Star of Bombay</i>

The Star of Bombay is a 182-carat (36.4-g) cabochon-cut star sapphire originating in Sri Lanka. The violet-blue gem was given to silent film actress Mary Pickford by her husband, Douglas Fairbanks. She bequeathed it to the Smithsonian Institution. It is the namesake of the popular alcoholic beverage Bombay Sapphire, a British-manufactured gin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hiddenite Gem Mines</span>

Hiddenite, North Carolina, United States, is a centre for the mining of gemstones. Three larger mines found there are Adams Mine, NAEM and the Emerald Hollow Mine. They are collectively known as the Hiddenite Gem Mines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morganite (gem)</span> Beryl variety

Morganite is an orange or pink variety of beryl and is also a gemstone. Morganite is mined in Brazil, Afghanistan, Mozambique, Namibia, the United States, and Madagascar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aquamarine (gem)</span> Variety of beryl

Aquamarine is a pale-blue to light-green variety of beryl. The color of aquamarine can be changed by heat.

References

  1. ↑ Zimmerman, Eileen (February 19, 2021). "A New York Museum Staple Gets a New Glimmer". The New York Times . Retrieved July 7, 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 Dukes, Tanya (May 23, 2021). "Some Famous Gems Get a New Setting". The New York Times . Retrieved July 7, 2021.
  3. ↑ Goldberger, Paul (April 14, 1977). "Design Notebook". The New York Times . Retrieved July 7, 2021.
  4. ↑ Montgomery, Paul (November 1, 1964). "3 Seized in Theft of Museum Gems". The New York Times .
  5. ↑ "The AMNH Gem and Mineral Collection". Archived from the original on January 29, 2009. Retrieved January 14, 2009.
  6. ↑ Kriplen, Nancy (2008). The Eccentric Billionaire: John D. MacArthur -- Empire Builder, Reluctant Philanthropist, Relentless Adversary . New York: AMACOM/ American Management Association. pp.  6–9. ISBN   9780814408896.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Zimmerman, Eileen (May 19, 2021). "A New York Museum Staple Gets a New Glimmer". The New York Times . Retrieved July 7, 2021.
  8. ↑ Roberts, Sam (October 17, 2017). "New Home for Gems and Minerals at the Museum of Natural History". The New York Times . Retrieved July 7, 2021.
  9. ↑ "Opening of the Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals Postponed" (Press release). American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  10. ↑ Morgan, Diane (2007). From Satan's Crown to the Holy Grail: Emeralds in Myth, Magic, and History. Westport, Conn. [u.a.]: Praeger. p. 109. ISBN   9780275991234.
  11. ↑ "The Patricia Emerald". American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved October 29, 2012.
  12. ↑ "Star of India". American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved October 29, 2012.
  13. ↑ "Hall of Minerals and Gems". Archived from the original on February 27, 2009. Retrieved March 4, 2009.
  14. ↑ Hughes, Richard W. "Padparadscha and Pink Sapphire Defined". Archived from the original on March 3, 2009. Retrieved March 4, 2009.
  15. ↑ "Brazilian Princess Topaz". Smithsonian Institution . Retrieved July 7, 2021.
  16. ↑ Shulz, Bill (September 24, 2015). "The Subway Garnet". The New York Times . Retrieved July 7, 2020.

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