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1. EVENTS

Pala Trip

On September 8th, a group of 22 members visited the Oceanview and Pala Chief mines. The Council had not visited

these mines since 2007 and it was amazing to see the changes. The tunnels of the Oceanview now extend more than

600 feet and to a depth over 80 feet. A tour of the underground tunnels was really special – not something that

most visitors to the mine get to experience. In addition, we had a jeep tour up the hill to the Pala Chief (with great

views of the valley), and the rest of the day to screen for gems in the mine tailings.

A tour underground, with lectures on pegmatite geology by

Tony Kampf. Screening for gems.

Lecture by Rock Currier

Rock Currier, a longtime supporter of the Mineral Sciences Department, gave us an informative talk about “How to

tell a great mineral specimen from a piece of… rock!”. To illustrate his talk, Rock brought some goodies: a variety of

Tsumeb dioptase specimens from his collection. His question: “Which one is the best?” By the end of his talk, Rock

told us that the price of a mineral specimen in reality simply depends upon the amount that someone is willing to

pay for it. But to assist in the quest for the perfect mineral specimen, one should use online resources, such as

Mindat.org, which gives a lot of information, and provides many pictures of minerals (including the “best minerals”).

Gem & Mineral Council Newsletter

September-October 2013

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Rock showed us how to use the Mindat.org website. Also, Rock emphasized the importance of curating one’s own

collection, including keeping a database and making labels for each specimen, which increases significantly the value

of the collection. At the end of his talk, Rock offered for sale reprints of his comprehensive Mineralogical Record

article on “About Mineral Collecting”. Generously, Rock donated all the money received to the Gem & Mineral

Council.

2. COLLECTION

Acquisition

The Mineral Sciences Department purchased a scheelite

crystal from China at the Munich Gem & Mineral Show. We

have been looking for a good scheelite for over a year now,

and we were happy to find a specimen with a great shape and

color. We purchased it with GMC funds for about $2,500, so it

is now adoptable! It is at the moment being shipped to the

US, but here is a photo taken quickly at the show.

Temporary exhibition

The Aurora Butterfly of Peace

On of December 4th, 2013, The Gem Vault of the museum’s Gem and Mineral Hall will become the temporary home

of the world’s most fanciful butterfly – The Aurora Butterfly of Peace. The 240 natural fancy-colored diamonds, with

a total weight of 167 carats, artistically depict the figure of a butterfly, a universal symbol of a peaceful and happy

spirit. Alan Bronstein, the owner and curator, spent 12 years assembling this spectacular collection, one stone at a

time, in partnership with Harry Rodman. For over 25 years Bronstein, has been one of the world’s most respected

consultants on colored diamonds to fine jewelers, designers, and private investors.

This spectacular array of very rare fancy-color diamonds, encompassing a complete rainbow of colors, is

unprecedented. Among the exotic hues are purples from Russia, blues and oranges from South Africa, lime greens

from Brazil, violets and dozens of pinks from the Argyle mine in Australia. Like fragments of a rainbow, frozen in time

for eternity, they are hypnotic to the gaze. The Aurora Butterfly of Peace was conceived by the artist as an eternal

icon of love, beauty, energy, nature and peace – symbolizing a spiritual connection to earth for all mankind.

We purchased this Chinese scheelite at the Munich Show. It is now up for adoption!

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The Aurora Butterfly of Peace, a collection of fancy color diamonds arranged and curated by Alan Bronstein. On the

right, the diamonds are shown under ultraviolet illumination.

3. CONFERENCES & SHOWS

Gemological conference in Paris

Curator Eloïse Gaillou was a featured speaker at the 13th French

Gemological Conferences (Rendez-vous Gemmologique de Paris), held in

Paris on September 5th-6th. On the first day, talks focused on the gem

market economy, then colored stones, diamonds and pearls on the

second day. International speakers and attendees were present, and it

made a beautiful two days in Paris. Also, to celebrate the 50th

anniversary of the Association Française de Gemmologie (afg), fifty

influential personalities and events were chosen among a list created by

specialists. It is featured in the September 2013 edition of the French

Revue de Gemmologie, in chronological order.

Opening of the mineralogy museum, MIM, in Beirut, Lebanon

Curator Eloïse Gaillou was invited to Lebanon for the opening of the mim, which is a mineralogy museum put

together by collector Mr. Salim Eddé, and now owned and hosted at the University Saint Joseph in Beirut. Mr. Eddé

wanted to create a museum that was elegant, meaningful, and educational, with the principal focus on gorgeous

minerals. And he did! With the help of Jean-Claude Boulliard, curator of the Sorbonne collection (hosted at the

Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris), he has spent 16 years gathering many of the most beautiful minerals in

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the world. The museum offers a total of 1480 minerals (300 species) from 60 different countries, contained within

more than 1300 m² (14,000 sq ft) in 9 galleries. A complete report on the mim, which includes a lot of mineral

pictures, can found at:

http://nhminsci.blogspot.com/2013/10/opening-of-mim-museum-in-beirut-lebanon.html

The systematic gallery, at the mim museum in Lebanon.

Denver Show

The Denver Gem and Mineral Show is the second most important such show in the U.S. each year. This year the show’s theme was tourmaline. Tony Kampf, our Curator Emeritus, brought an exhibit with just one specimen – a remarkable slice of liddicoatite tourmaline from Madagascar. This was enhanced with lots of educational information on the species and on the origin of its dramatic color zones. Our exhibit was voted one of the five best museum exhibits at the show.

The NHM exhibit at Denver: Liddicoatite: A tourmaline whose beauty is more than skin deep.

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The 50th Munich Show

Curator Eloïse Gaillou & Collection Manager Alyssa Morgan were invited to participate in the Munich Show from

October 24-27. The show theme was gold, in celebration of the show’s 50th Anniversary. We brought some of our

best pieces, including The Mojave Nugget (the largest gold nugget in existence from California), an elegant

arborescent (tree-like) gold from Mariposa County, the historic Ram’s-Horn Gold wire from Colorado, and the finest

known Brazilian gold crystal. Three of our pieces are featured in the official book about the show, and you will also

be able to find us and the exhibit next year in “What’s hot in Munich”, the DVD report of the show. In the meantime,

a complete report (with fun pictures) can be found on the blog:

http://nhminsci.blogspot.com/2013/10/munich-show-2013-special-gold-exhibit.html

Alyssa Morgan and Eloïse Gaillou in front of the NHM display case at the Munich show. Notice that the Mojave nugget is on

the far left of the picture. Photo: P. Lebrun.

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The Munich Show theme book on Gold: some of our specimens are featured, including the Brazilian gold, on the right page,

left picture.

Gem & Mineral Shows: save the date

- November 8-10, 2013: West Coast Gem & Mineral Show.

One of Southern California’s best gem & mineral shows will be held in Santa Ana at the Holiday Inn/Orange County

Airport (2726 S Grand Ave Santa Ana, CA 92705). Seventy retail and wholesale vendors will be selling minerals,

fossils, gems, jewelry, beads, lapidary supplies, gift items, and related material. The show is open to the public, but

note that this show only has dealers – there are no exhibits. Free admission and parking.

- February 4-9 and 13-16, 2014: Tucson Gem & Mineral Show, 60th edition.

Alyssa Morgan and Eloïse Gaillou will be in Tucson to cover both the gem and the mineral shows, arriving around the

4th and leaving on February 16th. Tony Kampf will join us during the last week, which is mainly focused on minerals.

We will have a display case during the main TGMS Gem & Mineral Show (Feb. 13-16). This year’s theme is: “60 years

of Diamonds, Gems, Silver and Gold”. Another one not to be missed!

4. STUDENTS & VOLUNTEERS

Work study students

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The Research & Collection Division of NHM allocated the Mineral Sciences Department two work study students for

this fiscal year. We are happy to announce that Yasmin David and Claudia Whyte are working on cataloguing our

collection!

Claudia (left) and Yasmin (right) are our new work study students.

Volunteers

Christopher Raum is volunteering one day a week, helping cataloguing our minerals. It brings our volunteer group to

5, with Kathy Kampf, who works as a Council Coordinator on Thursdays, Brittany Bednash, who helps with media

and communication on Wednesdays and John Moore and Bill McCusky who are long-time volunteers in our

department.

Christopher Raum is now part of our volunteer group.

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6. PUBLICATIONS

Dr. Anthony Kampf, Emeritus curator, continues to discover more new minerals and publish more research papers

than ever since his retirement! Here are the latest …

Kampf, A. R., Mills, S. J., Housley, R. M., Rossman, G. R., Nash, B. P., Dini, M., and Jenkins, R. A. (2013) Joteite,

Ca2CuAl[AsO4][AsO3(OH)]2(OH)2(H2O)5, a new arsenate with a sheet structure and unconnected acid arsenate groups.

Mineralogical Magazine 77, 2811-2823.

Kampf, A. R., Falster, A. U., Simmons, W. B., and Whitmore, R. W. (2013) Nizamoffite, Mn2+Zn2(PO4)2(H2O)4, the Mn

analogue of hopeite from the Palermo No. 1 pegmatite, North Groton, Grafton Co., New Hampshire. American

Mineralogist 97, 1893-1898.

Plášil, J., Kampf, A. R., Kasatkin, A. V., Marty, J., Škoda, R., Silva,S., and Čejka, J. (2013) Meisserite,

Na5(UO2)(SO4)3(SO3OH)(H2O), a new uranyl sulfate mineral from the Blue Lizard mine, San Juan County, Utah, USA.

Mineralogical Magazine 77, 2975-2988.

Kampf, A. R., Sciberras, M. J., Williams, P. A., and Dini, M. (2013) Leverettite from the Torrecillas mine, Iquique

Provence, Chile: the Co-analogue of herbertsmithite Mineralogical Magazine 77, 3047-3054.

Colombo, F. and Kampf, A. R. (2013) Natrojarosite and silver halides from the El Criollo Pegmatite, Córdoba Province

(Argentina). Proceedings of the XI Congreso de Mineralogía y Metalogenia, San Juan, Argentina, October 16-19,

2013.

Meisserite crystals (2 mm field of view) SEM image of joteite

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7. COMING EVENTS

Wednesday, December 4th 2013: Opening ceremony for the Aurora Butterfly of Peace

diamond exhibition. EXCLUSIVE for $1,000 GMC members and above.

We will celebrate the opening of our 6-month-long exhibition of the fabulous Aurora Butterfly of Peace diamond

collection with a gala cocktail party. This very special event will take place at the museum on Wednesday, December

4th beginning at 6pm. The event sponsor is Alan Bronstein, curator of the collection. Invitees will include high-end

donors to our museum, including our GMC members at the $1,000 and above levels. Lower level Council members

should consider upgrading their membership level so that they won’t have to miss this wonderful event.

Sunday, December 8th 2013: Jewel Tunnel Imports open house & sale.

Rock Currier, owner/proprietor of Jewel Tunnel Imports (www.jeweltunnel.com) has again agreed to open his

immense Baldwin Park warehouse to Gem & Mineral Council members and their guests for a very special open

house. What makes this warehouse so special is its contents – an amazing variety and quantity of rocks, minerals,

lapidary, jewelry – all at true wholesale prices (Jewel Tunnel Imports does not sell to the public).

Refreshments will be served throughout the day to keep you going as you search Rock's seemingly endless shelves

full of rare and common treasures. Whatever you’re looking for, you won't be disappointed.

Rock, a stalwart supporter of the Council since its inception, wants this to be a fund-raising event for the Council.

Consequently, for the privilege of buying wholesale, you will be asked to make a tax-deductible donation amounting

to 25% of the purchase price. That means that you will still be paying nearly 40% off retail price. (Sales tax will be

charged unless you can provide a resale number.) Please plan to write two checks, one for your purchase and one

for your donation to the Gem & Mineral Council.

There is no admission charge for this event. Family and friends are welcome, but Rock asks that any children be

closely supervised. There will be more than enough rocks and minerals for everyone, but plan on coming early to

give yourself plenty of time to go through Rock's vast stock.

CONTACT US

You can contact the Gem & Mineral Council at: 213-763-3326 or gmc@nhm.org.

Remember that we update our Facebook page daily with pictures of gems, minerals, news, etc. You will also find

updated information about our coming events and photo albums of our past events. You do not need to be a

Facebook member to visit our page! http://www.facebook.com/GemMineralCouncil

Follow our blog! http://nhminsci.blogspot.com/