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Smithsonian gems

T L

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Sep 20, 2008
Messages
25,228
D44A9429-76A7-40B8-BDEC-4B658D898B14.jpeg 2FA2BCBC-5105-405B-9CCE-7D3BE2CC4298.jpeg C813F307-9BF3-46F0-AA2A-B445B1CD7726.jpeg 5B781AA9-C431-49B8-B9EB-FEB92D2E29E6.jpeg I was recently at the Smithdonian and I wanted to post some pictures here and share with my fellow gem lovers!! First up, the Hope. Extremely grey with specks of blue flash. I was underwhelmed. It really looks this grey in person. It reminded me of some grey spinel I’ve seen,
 
38FD47E9-136E-410A-8407-60AC46126458.jpeg CDF21376-DDD3-4836-9353-2BDF34335FB8.jpeg 41C7C542-16B7-4F94-9EF8-997647987DD5.jpeg 28C6FFAB-9CEE-40C2-A53B-0FE75FFE8FF0.jpeg 4B2E1BE2-F30B-4780-87F8-79B5486A23FC.jpeg 03A70405-AA13-41C1-A791-C787E8147ADF.jpeg 6E7424AD-E50D-416A-8168-CD5D52CF2D88.jpeg 00B02D9F-22A7-4D05-A024-5F8AEA2CC4CA.jpeg Next, some emeralds. The chalk emerald was a beautiful color, albeit included. The Hooker emerald was so windowed, you could only see fine color around the edges. The Inquisition necklace was nice, but it was a pity that these fine gems had drill holes.
 
E8BDD967-03F1-4C54-BBEE-4629B2F318DB.jpeg 86F2D535-0AB2-480F-90CC-2D34CD765659.jpeg 131F0092-D81C-4DE9-8063-B7960FE22F62.jpeg CE17BCA1-8D6A-4C9A-BADB-87795157631D.jpeg The Carmen Lucia 21 carat ruby ring was gorgeous.
 
849A8C9F-23B1-4BE0-AEB7-2BEB0BA317FD.jpeg 7DAC1FA7-22ED-4DFE-B686-E9012A65B81C.jpeg 8F8C94B1-83B5-4239-9AFB-F667D2046F9A.jpeg 2E4E6390-EB05-4220-81AD-908728FB89AD.jpeg F5933167-520B-47FF-9EDB-B3F804BB902E.jpeg The Logan sapphire has an infamous window, and I love using it as an example of a windowed gem. Wow, what a window!! Some other sapphires as well.
 
I felt the exact same way about the Hope diamond. So underwhelming. I'm sure the yellow lighting doesn't do it any favors but it was just so... Bleh.
 
Now this was a gorgeous blue diamond!! The blue heart owned by Marjorie Post. It was a light blue, but it was actually BLUE!! F3D6C0BA-6C79-4D14-98F6-9EC208151B6F.jpeg
 

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I'm still a huge fan of the hope diamond. :love:

Thanks for posting ... each one blows me away more than the last. I am a big fan of the hooker emerald and the huge alexandrites!! Even if they aren't the best color.
 
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7AC1C956-6448-41A4-9778-54181FEC26BF.jpeg 60F2019F-C626-4419-A2FE-3F27A6A83BB9.jpeg E264DF83-4A35-43E8-96C8-9EDAED9D668D.jpeg 813C090A-E278-4E3D-A34A-F1BE3DC1E92C.jpeg C820ED53-C081-4222-933B-5C024D831885.jpeg 69D58FC2-06BD-43C1-8CD1-EEE493C24DAC.jpeg 117CAF73-C305-4FE3-BA16-9281B985D867.jpeg 8D578AFC-50AF-4C1E-9926-7771BF306E73.jpeg A red diamond that looked exactly like a pyrope garnet (very very underwhelming), and some much nicer colored diamonds.
 
4C8E05CB-BA49-4A1C-B2A9-8EAAE8EEC962.jpeg 543C4611-897F-4568-B3BA-199EFF2E7F46.jpeg 04742154-3ACF-4EEB-99E6-0C80BF10C5B8.jpeg A gorgeous huge Russian demantoid.
 

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Not sure whether I like the demantoid or the sapphire necklace with many sapphires best... so wow

These are at the Natural History Museum, yes? I want to make sure to have it right since I'm going in a couple of months.
 
Not sure whether I like the demantoid or the sapphire necklace with many sapphires best... so wow

These are at the Natural History Museum, yes? I want to make sure to have it right since I'm going in a couple of months.
Yes, the Natural History Museum. The demantoid blew the sapphires away.
 
That Victoria-Transvaal is so STUNNING I had dreams about it for weeks :love:
 
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The star of Asia and the huge star ruby are my favorite. They are highly translucent. The star of Asia has a completed well centered star. There is an amazing huge Jadeite vase. There is the star of Bombay which the gin is named after it.
 
Great pics, thanks for taking the time to post them! :)

I am seriously liking Emeralds at the moment :love: but I think @jordyonbass would probably prefer the opals ;) lol
 
Thanks @T L !

Such delicious eye candy! :kiss2:
 
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Is it bad that I recognized the names of the famous jewels without having to scroll down? :kiss2:

Everything is lovely except the Hope, which looks so dead. :eek2:
 
The star of Asia and the huge star ruby are my favorite. They are highly translucent. The star of Asia has a completed well centered star. There is an amazing huge Jadeite vase. There is the star of Bombay which the gin is named after it.
For some reason my camera made the asterism less sharp looking. It was very sharp and well defined IRL.
 
3A573075-430B-4A91-AA41-4B8DE0080BF1.jpeg E850637B-7F14-4BEE-BBC6-D15A4ECE56FB.jpeg I’m sorry, the demantoid was around 11 carats!! Here a pic of it from more of a distance. It was one amazing gem.
 
3C9586D8-2818-4EB4-84A8-8E1B030C408E.jpeg 50AD7737-F37B-46C8-A7B2-BFB3D2D3A74C.jpeg 82508DCB-95E5-4334-9B17-BB41F2791945.jpeg F6E885CC-081F-4602-9A2F-62A69BD6C078.jpeg FC8313EF-6B0E-4C74-9326-63C76FAE4869.jpeg 412D6156-23D3-49BE-A72B-AFE85F2852D4.jpeg 94A278C3-C080-4828-9150-6C7693942105.jpeg 2CC75D13-90D3-4F2A-964D-1133214C6ED6.jpeg 66998186-B184-491F-A03B-F2D5B35B2647.jpeg 0D8572AF-5A2C-4E76-8BA6-56BCE5FA2ADC.jpeg Some miscellaneous gems and crystals.
 
E1782D69-CCB9-4483-A790-EF38B261EF31.jpeg 0099C052-B05F-4EEB-94A0-A0DAC5E86370.jpeg C5E621E8-4F10-4970-BDE5-C5210D11881F.jpeg 0F475FCF-C9CC-42F6-8262-61649D7D942C.jpeg 1E84F97F-D347-4E27-AE0F-196910D941FB.jpeg74156DF6-FB5A-4488-A528-1451B1FD7015.jpeg885DCD95-F9FC-43AC-8A31-1D97394E24A6.jpegEBC4FCC7-01EF-4668-8DF7-6016A0EA5448.jpeg
Some more, including a picture of my 16 and 13 year old boys next to a huge crystal for size comparison.
 
Thank you for all the pics!

There are so many different things that are shiny and pretty :D lol

What is this, though??
 
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