Sourcing

Revamped Gem Halls in the Spotlight on ‘Sunday Morning’

SourcingMar 30, 2022

Revamped Gem Halls in the Spotlight on ‘Sunday Morning’

The American Museum of Natural History’s mineral collection got airtime on the most recent episode of the CBS show.

New York—When tuning into CBS’s “Sunday Morning” this past weekend, one expected to see a segment on the recent passing of Madeleine Albright, with perhaps a mention of her famous pin collection.

The former U.S. secretary of state, and her brooches, were featured, but the jewelry coverage didn’t stop there.

The March 27 episode of the long-running 90-minute news magazine show featured a nearly five-minute-long segment taking viewers inside the renovated gem halls at New York’s American Museum of Natural History.

The new 11,000-square-foot Allison and Roberto Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals opened in June 2021 after being closed since 2017 for renovations and delayed for reopening by COVID-19. 

On “Sunday Morning,” correspondent Faith Salie took a tour of the halls with museum President Ellen Futter and gem gallery curator George Harlow, spotlighting attractions like the giant amethyst geodes and the 9-pound rough “Subway Garnet.”

CBS relived a bit of museum history, covering the 1964 burglary during which thieves snatched the 563-carat star sapphire known as the “Star of India,” now back in the museum’s collection. 

(The heist was the subject of a movie, 1975’s “Murph the Surf.”) 

 Related stories will be right here … 

Filmed months ago, the “Sunday Morning” segment also featured some pieces from “Beautiful Creatures,” the Marion Fasel-curated exhibition of animal jewelry that closed in the fall. It was housed in the Melissa and Keith Meister Gallery, the gem hall’s space for rotating exhibitions.

On display now in that space are diamonds from Botswana, including the 20-carat “Okavango Blue.”

The exhibition opened in November and was set to run for six months; no word from the museum on what will be next in the gallery.

See the CBS “Sunday Morning” segment on the museum’s gem halls above. For the entire episode, visit the show’s website.

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