This Friday, October 23rd, the permanent gem collection of Chicago's Field Museum, the Grainger Hall of Gems, will finally re-open to the public! This grand re-opening coincides with the opening of a temporary exhibit I've been waiting excitedly to check out – The Nature of Diamonds. (You can check out The Nature of Diamonds from October 23, 2009 – March 28, 2010.)

The Field Museum's gem exhibit first opened in 1921, and this is it's third renovation (1941 and 1985, previously).

It's been completely redesigned, and features 600 gemstones and gems, and 150 pieces of gem-laden jewelry, including some never-before-seen pieces from the museum's collection, some dating back to 1893!

Here's just a taste of all the pretties you can expect to see in the new and improved Hall of Gems.

Tanzanite:  

Ruby:

Emerald:

Diamond:

Aquamarine:

Tourmaline:

Growing up in the Midwest, I made a lot of visits to the Field Museum, and the gem hall has always been one of my favorite stops. And I can't help but think that those visits played a part in fostering my inner goldsmith. Actually, I'm not sure how young I was when gems finally nudged their way past dinosaurs on my museum excitement-o-meter...

Don't get me wrong, dinosaurs are still extremely cool!

In fact, here's a photo of fellow associate editor Kristin and me during a visit to the Field Museum this past summer. Behind us is Sue, the largest, most complete, and best preserved Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton in the world.

But, gemstones have a special little nook in my heart. You know what I mean – I'll bet they're tucked into your heart too.

No exaggeration, I could hang out in a museum silently staring at sparkling gemstones, breathtaking jewelry, and massive mineral specimens for hours all by myself. Of course it probably wouldn't hurt to bring someone along with me when I head down to Chicago to check out this exhibit, just so that I'm not giddily pointing out gorgeous stones to random nearby museum-goers. I think I made some folks uncomfortable the last time I did that...

Of course, if you see me down there feel free to point out your favorite stones to me. We can drool along together at all the sparklies.

Have fun gem-gawking!

~Addie~