Courtesy: The Field Museum. | The Sun God opal is a roughly 35 carat white opal reputedly mined in Mexico by the Aztecs in the 16th century. It is said to have been displayed in a Persian temple for centuries before being purchased by the Hope family who also owned the Hope Diamond and Hope Spinel; it currently resides in the Field Museum in Chicago. It was named the Sun God opal for the flames around the carved face. Its gold mounting was designed by Tiffany & Co. From "Gems and Gemstones: Timeless Natural Beauty of the Mineral World" by Lance Grande and Allison Augustyn, 2009, University of Chicago Press.
Did you know? Opal is made up of billions of submicroscopic silica spheres. There are two broad classes of opal: precious and common. Precious opal displays play-of-color, while common opal does not. Play-of-color occurs in precious opal because its silica spheres are stacked in an orderly grid-like pattern that breaks up light into spectral colors. | Photo: Nathan Renfro/GIA. | A Small But Mite(ey) Amber | GIA scientists studied this approximately 30-million-year-old piece of amber from the Dominican Republic and discovered that it contains an unusual mite. Insects are sometimes seen in amber. What makes this mite inclusion unusual is the insight it offers into the evolution of this tiny mite.
The mite's longest front leg is disproportionately long in relation to the rest of its body, indicating that it is of the genus Podocinum. From this specimen, scientists can see that this genus has survived millions of years virtually unchanged. From an evolutionary standpoint, this indicates that this mite was just as efficient a predator then as its living counterpart today. The Podocinum mite lives in loose soil, feeding on springtails (Collembola). As it travels about, it uses its extremely long front legs to explore the soil and quickly snare any springtail that happens to come too close.
There are no other documented examples of a Podocinum mite as an inclusion in amber, making this an even more interesting specimen. | Photo: Wim Vertriest/GIA. | Although not always the first to come to mind when one thinks of miners, women are important in the mining industry. In Vietnam, many women mine gem gravels amidst verdant rice paddies, searching for spinel and ruby washed down from the surrounding marble mountains. In Longido, Tanzania, Maasai women work the tailings of ruby mines, extracting small ruby fragments from the lower grade crystals passed over by large operations. In the Tanga region of Tanzania, women miners formed the Tanzanian Women Miners Association (TAWOMA). The gems that these women find provide a valuable source of income for them and their families. These are just some of the numerous examples of women working hard all over the world and contributing to our industry. Want to learn how GIA helped bring education to the miners of TAWOMA? | We hope our gem knowledge inspires you to rock on. #knowledgerocks | |
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