The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is located at 200 Central Park West, New York, United States.
Minerals were included in the museum's collections from the very beginning, with some specimens acquired as early as 1871. You can read about the mineral collections here.
The Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals tell the fascinating story of how the vast diversity of mineral species arose on our planet, how scientists classify and study them, and how we use them for personal adornment, tools, and technology. The galleries feature more than 5,000 specimens from 98 countries. Details are available here.
About ten years or so ago, I acquired the specimen below. This came from the Eugene Carmichael Collection (number EWC266) and at one time, spent some time in the AMNH Collection, as well as the Mineral Department of the British Museum.
It also came from the collection of Brother Juan Salvador, FMS, a volunteer at the AMNH in the 1880s. His card apparently read “One of the great treasures of my collection, 16/7/1884”.
Jamie Newman, Senior Museum Specialist at the AMNH, told me that apparently he (Brother Juan Salvador) helped himself to many many specimens from AMNH, primarily rare ones. Sometimes folks donate these things back.
Below: Quartz after barite, Hungary.
Back in the early 2000s I helped label and curate the vast mineral collection in the basement of what was then the Plymouth City Museum & Art Gallery, Devon, UK, now rebranded as ‘The Box’ Plymouth or some similar trendy name. It contained many historical specimens including many from Richard Barstow. One of the distressing aspects was finding suspicious gaps and empty boxes. I imagine many labelled specimens ‘deaccessioned’ from museums have a convoluted history behind them. That said, as an example, I have purchased specimens from dealers bearing labels from the Natural History Museum, London, some actually stating they were broken from larger samples, for a researcher measuring ratios of isotopes of lead, with a view to pinpointing sources of ore from which archaeological artifacts were smelted.
Collect with a conscience and provide as much detail as possible on labels!
Bill Mason.
Very cool. William Boyce Thompson, one of the donors who helped build the AMNH collections, was the son of one of Butte's first mayors here in Montana, in the 1890s. His house, built about 1884, still stands about 3 blocks from mine, and I'll be passing it in a few minutes on my way to a Monday beer.