shelikes2read
My hubby and I took a day trip to Washington, DC for our anniversary, and I had an absolute blast. We visited a couple of the Smithsonian museums, one of which houses the Smithsonian's gem and mineral collections.
Oh. My. Word. May I just say that if you have the least bit of interest in either jewelry gems OR natural minerals, this exhibit is an absolute must-see if you have any way to visit Washington, DC.
I took a bunch of photos with my iPhone, and my phone spent most of the afternoon uploading them to Dropbox.
Here are some of the highlights.
The Hope Diamond. My own diamond, the one I wrote about in the Diamond study thread, perked right up in the presence of the most famous member of its family. I do believe it was excited to meet a celebrity.
The world's largest flawless quartz sphere. Oh, how I wished I could take this one home! I am such a sphere addict, lol, and this one is just mind-boggling. It's an incredibly potent stone. I asked my hubby to take a photo of me with the sphere, and it was his idea to shoot a picture THROUGH the sphere.
Just WOW. Imagine multiple rooms' worth of incredible specimens like this.
The Smokey Quartzes in the foreground are amazing, but my target in this image was the Y-shaped stone. That's a bunch of Herkimer Diamonds all grown together.
This Rose Quartz specimen is incredible. I have never in my life seen it in the form of visible crystals. I've only ever seen it in jewelry, tumbled, in raw chunks, etc. Moreover, WOW what a hue!
Here is the info about the Rose Quartz:
I took one look at these two samples and said, out loud, "Oh! Look at those great phantoms!", earning me some curious glances from people standing nearby. But just look at them -- what stone aficionado WOULDN'T react?
And here is the entire display on phantoms, including the information:
I'll look through the rest of my pictures and post the best ones to Photobucket. But I am going to be all excited for days after seeing all those stones in one place, both the cut gems AND the natural ones.
There were so many people present that I couldn't just open up to the energies of the stones, as I'd have liked to do. I could feel lots of energy, but going into "open" mode around hundreds of people was giving me all THEIR energies, too. There wasn't any negative energy from them, but there were just so many of them that their energies were just... LOUD.
However, the stones themselves had friendly dispositions and the ones I connected with seemed willing to share energies with people who were so inclined. So maybe I'll send my attention long-distance to that location after the museum is closed (and empty of noisy-energy-bearing people). Then maybe I can get a fix on JUST the stone energies.
There were SO MANY stones there, even the most major stone nerd of all time will see specimens that are completely new to them. Did I mention that this exhibit is a must-see?
I'm turning in now. I'm exhausted, but in a good way.
Oh. My. Word. May I just say that if you have the least bit of interest in either jewelry gems OR natural minerals, this exhibit is an absolute must-see if you have any way to visit Washington, DC.
I took a bunch of photos with my iPhone, and my phone spent most of the afternoon uploading them to Dropbox.
Here are some of the highlights.
The Hope Diamond. My own diamond, the one I wrote about in the Diamond study thread, perked right up in the presence of the most famous member of its family. I do believe it was excited to meet a celebrity.
The world's largest flawless quartz sphere. Oh, how I wished I could take this one home! I am such a sphere addict, lol, and this one is just mind-boggling. It's an incredibly potent stone. I asked my hubby to take a photo of me with the sphere, and it was his idea to shoot a picture THROUGH the sphere.
Just WOW. Imagine multiple rooms' worth of incredible specimens like this.
The Smokey Quartzes in the foreground are amazing, but my target in this image was the Y-shaped stone. That's a bunch of Herkimer Diamonds all grown together.
This Rose Quartz specimen is incredible. I have never in my life seen it in the form of visible crystals. I've only ever seen it in jewelry, tumbled, in raw chunks, etc. Moreover, WOW what a hue!
Here is the info about the Rose Quartz:
I took one look at these two samples and said, out loud, "Oh! Look at those great phantoms!", earning me some curious glances from people standing nearby. But just look at them -- what stone aficionado WOULDN'T react?
And here is the entire display on phantoms, including the information:
I'll look through the rest of my pictures and post the best ones to Photobucket. But I am going to be all excited for days after seeing all those stones in one place, both the cut gems AND the natural ones.
There were so many people present that I couldn't just open up to the energies of the stones, as I'd have liked to do. I could feel lots of energy, but going into "open" mode around hundreds of people was giving me all THEIR energies, too. There wasn't any negative energy from them, but there were just so many of them that their energies were just... LOUD.
However, the stones themselves had friendly dispositions and the ones I connected with seemed willing to share energies with people who were so inclined. So maybe I'll send my attention long-distance to that location after the museum is closed (and empty of noisy-energy-bearing people). Then maybe I can get a fix on JUST the stone energies.
There were SO MANY stones there, even the most major stone nerd of all time will see specimens that are completely new to them. Did I mention that this exhibit is a must-see?
I'm turning in now. I'm exhausted, but in a good way.