The National Museum of Natural History will permanently display the Dom Pedro Aquamarine, which is the largest single piece of cut-gem aquamarine in the world, beginning Dec. 6. It joins an illustrious cast of famous gemstones already on exhibit in the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals such as the Hope Diamond and the Marie Antoinette earrings. Jane M. Mitchell and Jeffery S. Bland donated the piece. The quality of the original crystal and its size, exquisite blue-green color and distinctive cut make it an exceptionally rare gem.
Mined from a Brazilian pegmatite in the late 1980s, the magnificent aquamarine was named for Brazil’s first two emperors, Dom Pedro Primeiro and his son, Dom Pedro Segundo. Before cutting, the portion of the beryl crystal from which the obelisk-shaped gem was fashioned measured 23.25 inches long and weighed nearly 60 pounds. The obelisk, designed by world-renowned gem artist Bernd Munsteiner, stands 14 inches tall, measures 4 inches across the base and weighs in at 10,363 carats or 4.6 pounds. These impressive dimensions render the Dom Pedro the largest cut-and-polished gem aquamarine known. A pattern of tapering “negative cuts” faceted into the reverse faces of the sea-blue obelisk serves to reflect the light within the gem, giving the piece surprising brightness and sparkle. With the proper lighting, this remarkable sculpture appears to be illuminated from within.
The Dom Pedro Aquamarine joins the Smithsonian’s famous gem and mineral collection of more than 10,000 gems in addition to 350,000 mineral specimens. The Smithsonian’s gem and mineral collection is one of the largest of its kind.
For more information on the mineral science collections at the museum, visit the Department of Mineral Sciences’ website at: http://mineralsciences.si.edu/collections.htm