Chicago Field Museum Grainger Hall of Gems

[T L]

. . . and last but not least, what would a trip to the Field Museum be without Sue?

 

[colormyworld]

Thank you for the tour TL.

 

[T L]

Date: 1/16/2010 9:21:50 PM
Author: colormyworld
Thank you for the tour TL.

You''re welcome, and sorry about the disappointing spinels. LOL!!

 

[Indylady]

That bixbite ring is so neat!! I''ve never seen bixbite that large. Wow!

 

[T L]

Date: 1/16/2010 10:25:24 PM
Author: IndyLady
That bixbite ring is so neat!! I''ve never seen bixbite that large. Wow!

. . . and you probably never will again. These stones are rare as hen''s teeth, and I think this one was about 2 carats which is enormous for a bixbite. It had some inclusions, but it was relatively clean, which again, is amazingly rare.

BTW, this is a link to the exhibit I WANTED to get pictures for everyone, but I wasn''t allowed to take photos. It was not only a beautiful exhibit full of amazing eye candy, but very informative and scientific. I have to go back without the kids. My little one was whining too much. I guess four year olds just don''t care much for diamonds, not to mention my poor husband who rather be at a football game. LOL!!

http://www.fieldmuseum.org/diamonds/

 

[packrat]

Wow-I wish we had cool exhibits like that around here!

This is prolly a dumb question, but..when they make such pretty jewelry, why do they use such included gems? Like the emerald pendant and the spess necklace. If it''s going to be in a museum, how come they don''t use spectacular gems?

I really liked that turquoise necklace a lot. The coral kind of freaks me out-but that''s b/c I had a horrible nightmare (that I''d finally managed to quit thinking about until just now gahhh!) a couple few weeks ago that had coral in it.

 

[T L]

Date: 1/16/2010 11:16:12 PM
Author: packrat
Wow-I wish we had cool exhibits like that around here!

This is prolly a dumb question, but..when they make such pretty jewelry, why do they use such included gems? Like the emerald pendant and the spess necklace. If it''s going to be in a museum, how come they don''t use spectacular gems?

I really liked that turquoise necklace a lot. The coral kind of freaks me out-but that''s b/c I had a horrible nightmare (that I''d finally managed to quit thinking about until just now gahhh!) a couple few weeks ago that had coral in it.

Excellent question, and I thought about that as well. I guess that this represents how incredibly difficult it is to source fine quality gems.

These are the tourmaline rings I saw. I know the picture is very dark, but the stones were very very dark with an obvious closed c-axis. The one on the left is a green color, and the one on the right was a very dark inky blue, but the settings were gorgeous. Maybe the wealthy people that bought these thought they were buying fine quality gems before they donated them to the museum, who knows for sure?

 

[T L]

Here''s a large aqua brooch. I think this is a Tiffany piece, but don''t quote me on that. My husband liked the beryls the best because as he said, "they''re so clean and glassy."

 

[T L]

Chrysoberyls.

 

[T L]

Front view of that one ginormous catseye moonstone bracelet. This thing was even too big for ME to wear!! It must have weighed a ton. I think it would have weighed down Joan Crawford!!

 

[T L]

Zircons

 

[T L]

Further away view of the spessartite necklace with some crystal examples at the base.

 

[T L]

A very large and dated looking marquise diamond ring.

 

[T L]

The fire opals, especially that drop pendant, were just amazing in color. Very neon orange. I want one now!! They even stood out in the mucky yellow lighting.

 

[T L]

Chrysoberyl ring. I''m not sure, but I think this was an antique.

 

[T L]

A gold tourmaline bracelet with very unexceptional tourmalines. I have to say that you PS''ers have much nicer tourmalines that our poor Field Museum. You should donate some of your collections!!

 

[T L]

This was a pearl brooch. The pearl was enormous and had fine luster which I couldn''t capture. Very nice piece.

 

[T L]

More pearls, mainly South Sea whites and goldens.

 

[T L]

They just redid the Grainger Hall of Gems, and I''m unsure why they used this mucky yellow lighting everywhere???

Here are some gold nuggets, which are probably the only items that could take advantage of the mucky yellow lighting.

 

[Lovinggems]

Thanks for the photos TL, my favourites are the turquoise necklace and the demantoid ring.

 

[virgoruby]

Thanks TL for taking the time to photograph the fantastic gem collection!
Shame about the poor lighting condition.. maybe someone could make a suggestion to the museum..
My favourites are the turquoise necklace & fire opal pendant.
(Am also a big fan of Sue - isn''t she adorable?)

 

[LD]

Fantastic and thank you so much for sharing.

I don''t think we realise how spoiled we all are that on this forum we get to see exceptionally beautiful eye candy (almost daily) with some gemstones that would literally knock some of those museum exhibits into a hat!

I have to agree that the one for me that stands out is the Bixbite ring. I have a 1ct Bixbite but it''s highly included and the one in your photo looks gorgeously clear - was it?

Is the cat''s eye bracelet a Paloma Piccasso by any chance? I''m pretty sure that''s one of her designs.

 

[Porridge]

Wow thanks for sharing TL!

I loooooove that ruby necklace, and the tanzanite pendant

 

[T L]

Date: 1/17/2010 5:01:32 AM
Author: virgoruby
Thanks TL for taking the time to photograph the fantastic gem collection!
Shame about the poor lighting condition.. maybe someone could make a suggestion to the museum..
My favourites are the turquoise necklace & fire opal pendant.
(Am also a big fan of Sue - isn't she adorable?)

Sue is adorable, but I wouldn't have wanted to be around 80 million years ago with her!!

Yes, the fire opal was to die for. The turquoise was a beautiful robin's egg blue. Glad you loved them too!

 

[T L]

Date: 1/17/2010 5:05:57 AM
Author: LovingDiamonds
Fantastic and thank you so much for sharing.

I don''t think we realise how spoiled we all are that on this forum we get to see exceptionally beautiful eye candy (almost daily) with some gemstones that would literally knock some of those museum exhibits into a hat!

I have to agree that the one for me that stands out is the Bixbite ring. I have a 1ct Bixbite but it''s highly included and the one in your photo looks gorgeously clear - was it?

Is the cat''s eye bracelet a Paloma Piccasso by any chance? I''m pretty sure that''s one of her designs.

Very good point LD, we are so spoiled by all the wonderful gems here on PS, it''s really truly amazing how subjective one can be in a museum''s gem collection. I saw people drooling left and right, and I was just like "meh." Sure there were some amazing pieces, but most of the collection was a bit disappointing. In fact, I was wearing my spessartite and tsavorite, and I was comparing!! LOL!! I would probably never dare do that at the Smithsonian. At the same time, some ladies were standing by and saying, "Wow, I didn''t know garnets come in green and orange!" I quietly chuckled.

The Bixbite wasn''t fully clean. It''s difficult to tell in my horrible shot, but the bottom half of the gem has some inclusions, however it was pretty clean for a bixbite.

I don''t know if the bracelet was a PP, but I do know it''s been at the museum for eons. I''ll have to check that out next time I go back (and hopefully get some better photos!).

 

[T L]

Date: 1/17/2010 5:45:18 AM
Author: Porridge
Wow thanks for sharing TL!

I loooooove that ruby necklace, and the tanzanite pendant

The rubies were actually so included, you couldn''t see through them at all. I should have mentioned that. The tanzanite was stunning though. I just wished they had some saturated sapphires that could compare.

 

[T L]

Date: 1/17/2010 12:32:05 AM
Author: Lovinggems
Thanks for the photos TL, my favourites are the turquoise necklace and the demantoid ring.

Those were some of my favorites as well.

 

[PinkTower]

TL,

Thank you for the tour. I live in the South, and visited Chicago for the first time last July.

I had always wanted to see the gems. It was quite a walk from the hotel, and I was puzzled by the crowd when I arrived, which stretched down the giant steps, across the crosswalk, and down the sidewalk across the street. As it turned out, I had arrived on the once per month free admission day sponsored by Target. Most everyone was there for a pirate exhibit and it was claustrophobic.

I made my way to the gem exhibit, and discovered it was closed for renovation. I was so disappointed. At least the long walk back to the hotel was fun. I even discovered a very upscale dog park and took photographs!

I have to say, although I think you took some excellent pictures, I cannot figure out exactly what might have taken place place during the renovation. Did the lighting or cases look like they had just been redone?

 

[T L]

Date: 1/17/2010 8:55:38 AM
Author: Pink Tower
TL,

Thank you for the tour. I live in the South, and visited Chicago for the first time last July.

I had always wanted to see the gems. It was quite a walk from the hotel, and I was puzzled by the crowd when I arrived, which stretched down the giant steps, across the crosswalk, and down the sidewalk across the street. As it turned out, I had arrived on the once per month free admission day sponsored by Target. Most everyone was there for a pirate exhibit and it was claustrophobic.

I made my way to the gem exhibit, and discovered it was closed for renovation. I was so disappointed. At least the long walk back to the hotel was fun. I even discovered a very upscale dog park and took photographs!

I have to say, although I think you took some excellent pictures, I cannot figure out exactly what might have taken place place during the renovation. Did the lighting or cases look like they had just been redone?

The old Grainger exhibit was very black and dark, with spot lighting just on the gems. The new one is open, airy, and there are new display cases. The walls are lighter too. The lighting left much to be desired, just like the old exhibit. At least I didn''t feel as claustrophobic like I did in the old display room. One thing I forgot to take photos of were the meteorites, but the kids were getting tired and wanted to go home.

Due to the diamonds exhibit, which I highly recommend (it''s only here till March I think), the gift shop was selling many jewel related items. They were a bit garish, and of course colored topaz rings

.

I really really wish I could have shown you the pieces in that exhibit, and the amazing diamond and kimberlite specimens. There was a pink and blue diamond Tiffany necklace, what looked to me as a 20 carat fancy orangy pink ring ( am guessing, but I couldn''t get the details due to a whiny family - LOL!), a Fabrege egg with invisible set square diamonds encrusting it,the largest fancy colored diamond in the world - a fancy brownish yellow, a collection of fancy colored diamonds that made up a butterfly from the American Museum of Natural History.
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/specials/butterfly/?src=h_h, so many jewels of royalty and Hollwood, even Mae West''s art deco bracelet.

The hall of jade is wonderful too, but I only was able to have time to catch one photo.

So there I was in a room full of the most exquisite gems, and my little one was crying "I want to go home!!" and my husband kept rolling his eyes and giving me that pleading, "let''s get out of here" look. *sigh* I am definitely going back by myself before the exhibit leaves!!

 

[T L]

I found this interactive exhibit on the Grainger, and LD, yes, that bracelet is designed by Paloma

http://www.fieldmuseum.org/gems/index.html