Posted on 06/11/2021 11:51:04 AM PDT by Red Badger
At 563 carats, the Star of India is the world’s largest gem-quality blue star sapphire, and is approximately 2 billion years old. (Image credit: D. Finnin/Copyright AMNH)
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What does the legendary Star of India — a 563-carat star sapphire the size of a golf ball — have in common with a 35-million-year-old petrified redwood slab; a massive cluster of sword-like crystals that looks like it came from "Game of Thrones;" and a 5-ton (4.5-metric ton) stone pillar that can "sing?"
You can see all of them, along with 5,000 other amazing stones, in the newly renovated Mignone Hall of Gems and Minerals at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City, which is reopening after a four-year closure on Saturday (June 12). There, one-of-a-kind precious gems appear alongside odd-looking rocks — some of which date to billions of years ago — that have been uniquely warped and twisted by extreme temperatures and pressures.
Individually and together, these objects tell a story of the diverse geologic processes that shape minerals on Earth's surface and deep inside our planet, beginning when the world was young and continuing to this day, museum representatives told Live Science.
Related: 13 mysterious and cursed gemstones
The Star of India, which formed about a billion years ago, was discovered in Sri Lanka in the 18th century. It is one of the best-known gems in the world, in part because it was famously and brazenly stolen from AMNH in 1964, along with several more of the museum's prized stones, by a pair of thieves named Jack "Murf the Surf" Murphy and Allan Kuhn, Smithsonian reported in 2014, on the heist's 50th anniversary. (The one-of-a-kind sapphire was recovered and went back on display in 1965).
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
w00t!
Pretty strange. I dreamed about the archery range, I think. Not a surprise!
Hiya!
Thanks.
I think.
I think I would rather have dreamed of the archery range.
Yeah, it’s only scary when equipment starts breaking.
Vlad successfully drove to the P.O. and back.
Congratulations, Vlad!
I Space Bagged most of my shawls. I can’t do all of them because the A/C in the chapel is horrendously chilly.
I’ve finally emptied out the second box that contained book boxes and will begin to add some paper padding to the bottom of it, for the TVs. The small one will go in there just fine, but the larger one will need some extra padding all around it. I’ll have to find a way to make a cover for it, too. That box and the one with the paintings and other wall hangings will travel upright.
I had a pre-nap nap with Jake. Next I’ll take James and Vlad back to camp. I considered having James drive, but Pat will be going to work in the Avalon.
I’ll probably go to Walmart on the way back. We’re out of sodas. If they don’t have Sam’s Diet Cola, I’ll have to pay for Diet Coke.
I’ve been doing some “mini-packing.” I don’t intend to do a lot, but I’m just gathering up some small items and boxing them up to get them out of my sight so it looks like I’ve done more than I actually have. I’ll get one more done and then call it a day for owrk.
Sharon was supposed to come over but I guess I wasn’t that important. It’s OK. I’ll probably see her Saturday at the Pioneer breakfast at the chapel.
Boys are dropped off, trip to Walmart accomplished. Off to more nap with Jake.
Congrats on the packing!
Well, if I do just one box a day, I can get it done in a month.
I’m going to call AR tomorrow because, of all things, I forgot to ask how much the deposit was. Silly me!
Anyway, by looking at it in terms of how much was left to do, I kept getting overwhelmed, so I decided to eat an elephant. ;o]
Congratulations on more nap with Jake!
OK. I’ve signed my next contract. At some point it will mean working on-site every day in NYC. But for now it’s half on-site and half remote.
Congratulations!
At least the half-on, half-off will give you a chance to readjust to city life.
Will you be living in the city during the week?
When do you actually start?
Good luck!
Thanks for the well wishes. I think I will start on Tuesday, although where I will be on Tuesday is still up in the air.
For the rest of this year I will stay at a Holiday Inn near enough to the workplace to walk so I can minimize my exposure to the subway. Mrs. ArGee informs me that I’ll be buying Purell by the barrel.
There are worse things in life than hand sanitizer in bulk...
;o]
I wish you all good things!
That sounds like a challenging environment.
Hey, y'all.
That floof can’t walk, hardly. So it’s walking softly.
Good morning.
Unngh. I forgot how disconcerting it was to have my sleep interrupted. I think putting that heavy blanket on the bed has made all the difference in my sleep patterns.
More rain showers last night, with lots of thunder. I hate thunder and I’m heading right into it.
What time do you leave for camp today?
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