Collection Updates, Presented by Dr. Gabriela Farfan

Synopsis by Andy Thompson, MSDC Secretary

Dr. Gabriela Farfan, the Smithsonian's Carolyn Whitney Endowed Curator of Gems and Minerals, concluded her two-part presentation by giving her MSDC audience a quick overview of “some of the beautiful (gems and minerals) that we have entered into the national collection.”

The “we” she refers to above is the gem and mineral team pictured below. Along with her role as a geological researcher who studies the crystal structure and the chemistry of minerals and biominerals, Gabriela also serves as a curator of gems and minerals. She is, therefore, in a wonderful position to update everyone on recent acquisitions that have been brought into the national collection.

Having stepped into the shoes of now retired Dr. Jeffrey Post, Gabriela said she shares the Curator of Gems and Minerals responsibility with Ioan Lascu. Together they lead the seven-member NMNH Gem and Mineral Team. Continuity is evident in how the team’s seasoned members, Paul and Russell, are training the team’s newest member, Greg.

The first recently acquired gem she showed is the very large (116.76 cts.) tsavorite cushion garnet. “It is a phenomenal gem, the largest precision cut square cushion in the world.” It was initially displayed in 2023 in a temporary setting. This year, 2024, it was displayed in its new home.

The “Iris” Moonstone Necklace (35.63 cts), shown below, was gifted to the Smithsonian by designer Zoltan David in 2017. One of Gabriela’s first priorities was to find an appropriate display, the moonstone case, which became its new home.

Each of the four crystals in the image below was obtained in 2023 through the generosity of the donors named above. Gabriela noted that each of these recent acquisitions is extraordinary and deeply appreciated.

-- The beautiful kunzite crystal, above on the left, stands about 18 inches tall with interesting growth pits, horizontal lines showing on its front side.

-- The cluster of ruby crystals is from the Mogok Valley in Burma (Myanmar).

– The large orange elbaite tourmaline from Mozambique is quite unusual. She noted that although the national collection has elbaite specimens of other colors, “we have never seen this color before; it is really special.”

-- The Sri Lanka 22-carat sapphire, on the right, was cut in such a way as to bring out the cat’s eye effect.

Gabriela shared an interesting aspect of how the gem and mineral team selects mineral acquisitions. The team does not aim to collect jewelry, as such. But the donation of the Butterfly Brooch collection, shown below, has opened a new avenue for bringing gems and minerals to the attention of the general public.

“ . . .  in this case, the butterflies happen to feature very rare stones, many of them American stones. So we thought this is a wonderful opportunity to showcase American stones in a way that the public would actually respond to.” Generally speaking, small size stones can result in their being overlooked. “So we are starting to see some value in having jewelry in collection.”

Referring to the three specimens shown below, Gabriela said of the first, on the left: “…this is the best suite of benitoite gems I have ever seen in my life.”

The second and third, the spessartine and hiddenite, she said, are also especially appreciated by mineralogists. “So we are starting to see some value in having jewelry in collection.” The Smithsonian legacy is using jewelry and gems to showcase minerals. “This will get the general public in the doors... and asking questions” about minerals.

Perhaps one of the most important additions to the collections is the elbaite tourmaline from Afghanistan. 

Two members of the gem and mineral team, Paul Polwat and Mike Wise, have been searching for years for an affordable Afghani elbaite tourmaline specimen. The "Rainbow Mountains" mineral, Gabriela said, is phenomenal and hopefully the first of more to come. “We hope to get it onto exhibit in the next few years.”

She concluded part two of her presentation, new acquisitions, by calling attention to a mineral exhibit which is found downstairs from the gem exhibit in the NMNH as an anthropology display. As noted below, Mike and Paul put this “Cellphone Unseen Connections” exhibit together to help the public know and appreciate the roll minerals play and “where the 61 elements that make up your cell phone actually come from.”

Gabriela strongly recommended those who have not yet seen this cellphone exhibit to stop by and visit it because it is really great.

She concluded her talk by proudly highlighting several of her colleagues within the Department of Mineral Sciences who strongly supported the Osiris Rex mission. Dr. Tim McCoy, of the Division of Meteorites, was one of the principal investigators who spent 20 years working on the project which in September of last year, 2023, was hailed as a great success. The project’s lander successfully descended onto the asteroid Bennu, vacuumed up mineral samples, and returned them to Earth. It was the first such successful sample capture and return mission, she said, since Apollo 17.

“What was even more remarkable was that it was only 16 days after the capsule touched Earth that we had a piece of Bennu on exhibit for the public.”

With the conclusion of her presentation, MSDC’s president Kenny Reynolds thanked Gabriela for her marvelous presentation and opened the floor for Q and A. The questions addressed topics covered in both the biomineralogy and gem acquisitions parts of her talk and included:

-- Correctly identifying the nacre mollusk cell’s C-axis and its weirdly short growth pattern;

-- A request for more information about how carbon sequestration works and how geologists think in long-term-(magnesium carbonate and calcium carbonate) rather than short-term approaches, in more energy intense but slower growth than happens in biomineral growth for capturing carbon;

-- Experimentation with new minerals being injected into pearl formation and how some organisms can successfully grow with new infusions of minerals;

-- Discussion of the counter-intuitive problem of some universities deemphasizing geology while society demands more rare earths and carbon sequestration; students’ need to ask for more geology classes;

-- The state of research on banded iron formation and related issues;

-- Affirmation of pearls as biominerals and increasingly more museums promoting biominerals such as through exhibits on the importance of clays;

-- The function of delta in comparing the size of aragonite’s three-dimensional cell growth in different samples;

-- The relevancy of thin sections of old-school geology days;

-- A request for additional information about how carbon sequestration works and how geologists think in long-term-(magnesium carbonate and calcium carbonate) rather than short-term approaches;

-- Is there any experimentation with new minerals being injected into pearls and how some organisms can successfully grow with new infusions of minerals;

-- A discussion of the counter-intuitive problem of some universities deemphasizing geology while society demands more rare earths and carbon sequestration;

-- What is the state of research on banded iron formation and related issues;

-- Affirmation of pearls as biominerals and increasingly more museums promoting biominerals such as through exhibits on the importance of clays;

-- Clarifying the function of delta in comparing the size of aragonite’s three-dimensional cell growth in different samples; and

-- Are thin sections of old-school geology days still relevant today?

Readers:  We encourage you to check out the MSDC YouTube video where you can view Dr. Gabriela Farfan’s presentation in its entirety (68 minutes) followed up with Q & A (15 minutes).  To do so, click here or, alternatively, on: Biominerals, their crystallography, and more updates from the Smithsonian NMNH – Dr. Gabriela Farfan (youtube.com).