The Gemmy Wonderland of the GIA

by Robyn Hawk on May 20, 2010

The Gemological Institute of America hosted the latest Sinkankas Symposium at their American Headquarters in Carlsbad, CA.

Feeling a little like Alice following the White Rabbit down the rabbit hole…finding herself in a wondrous world beyond imagination, I wandered the halls of the headquarters of the Gemological Institute of America.

The halls are lined with showcases filled with Gems (grouped by mineral species – beautiful and educational) – Photos of Gems and Gem Mining – Microscopic Art of Gem Inclusions – a Library and Museum and a traveling exhibit.
…on the ground floor at the entrance to the Library hangs “Bahia” – the story of this magnificent gem is in the photo – click photo for a larger image.

The Donald Millikin Collection (self-faceted) was donated to the GIA.

A close – up view of the center stones in the Milliken Collection – click the photo for an enlarged view.

The title on this showcase was “Large Gems” ummm yeah!!! really LARGE gems…

…and a close up of the “Large Gems”!!!

The halls come alive with color prints from the pages of the Bill Atkinson book “Within The Stone”

When we adjourned for lunch this is what greeted us in the cafe/library area…giant Quartz clusters!

…along one wall a great display of the “natural” gem Ammolite…a Giant Ammonite shell…

…and a showcase of some stunning gem Ammolite and a piece of Ammolite Jewelry.

This is a great example of the “educational” cases that line the halls in the classroom areas…this one concentrates on Tourmaline.

These cases are in the student lunch/break area…the first one holds two Munsteiner (tall one from Bernd and front one from Tom) carved Quartz pieces from Idar Oberstein…

….the second case holds a carved Malachite & Chrysocolla from Zaire that was donated by United States Pearl…

Of course what Gem & Jewelry collection is complete without a piece from the world class photographer Jeff Scovil.

Who wouldn’t want to study on this campus?

I am leaving you with another shot of Bahia – this one shows the rutile needles better with the light behind it…

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