Gems & Jewelry
Gems & Jewelry
The Gemstone Collection consists of approximately 1,600 gems and is broadly representative, though its strength lies in New England gems which account for roughly 60% of the collection. Though the gem collection contains cabochons, carvings, and other lapidary art material, the majority of items are faceted stones. Arguably the most prized and well known piece of the collection is the Hamlin Necklace which was created by Augustus Hamlin to showcase eighteen tourmalines from the Mount Mica Mine he owned and operated. The necklace was bequeathed to the museum in 1934.
Hamlin
With a central pendant cut into an impressive 34.25 carat gem, the Hamlin Necklace consists of eighteen removable pendants with tourmalines of various colors and beryl from Mount Mica attached to a simple gold chain. In the days of Hamlin, only high-end gemstones such as rubies, sapphires, emeralds, diamonds, opals and pearls were considered worthy enough to be set in jewelry pieces. However, a man ahead of his time, A.C. Hamlin - an active surgeon graduated from Harvard University and declared by the Freeport Times to be “one of the most distinguished men in Maine” (“Hamlin, Author and Artist”) after his death in 1905 - decided to use these colorful and brilliant mineral species as gemstones and set them in a necklace.
Mike Scott
Mike Scott was an avid gem and mineral collector, former Apple CEO, and sponsor of the Rruff mineral analysis database. He passed away in 2025 and donated his research collection to the MGMH consisting of many rare, unique, and unusual gemstones. He also donated some of the instrumentation used to research those gems, which were used to start the MGMH laboratory.
