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 ...
Excellent. You’ll get a package in the mail eventually, too. Small white one.
Cool!
The vent cleaners have the vacuum going, and the front door is open, the maintenance man is replacing the threshold and will replace the outside light, so the noise level and activity is such that I can’t hear myself think and am confined to my desk where the draft from the open door is making me hurt in places I’d like to forget.
May the result turn out to be worth the process.
At least I’ll be able to use the furnace, and more importantly, the A/C when the hot, humid months arrive. For now, I can live with the space heaters. In the summer, there will be no recourse if I expect to breathe properly, and will have to run the A/C.
One thing is sure...I won’t be giving up the ozone machine any time soon.
I’m glad this stuff is getting done. Phooey on them for not doing it before you got there!
It’s raining again. I’m thinking about going to read a book with Jake.
The folks inside are finally done except for replacing the things they had to remove in order to do their jobs. One of the techs said it looks like at least 10 years of buildup, but it could be more than that. The non-smoking law didn’t go into effect until 2017. He showed me before and after photos and it all looks so much better!
Too much noise, too much cold, too much light. I want my quiet little place back!
The threshold has been replaced, but I haven’t been able to get to the light switch to see if the porch light works. I’m not even sure if the threshold is done right. It felt pretty soft when I stepped on it this morning, before he got here.
We’re still encased in fog, which is making the place cold and damp.
I hope it’s much, much better! I fell asleep. Maybe tonight will be better. Tom has turned up and is watching a Japanese cartoon with Kathleen.
Sorry to hear that, my condolences.
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