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Coloured Gemstones: Standing the Test of Time

Throughout history, fine coloured gemstones (emeralds, rubies, sapphires, amethysts, etc) have been more prominent and highly revered than diamonds and it is only in the last fifty years, following an extensive marketing campaign, that diamonds have become higher in demand. The Aztecs and Egyptians had a great fascination for emeralds – when it rained, emeralds showed through the earth, the trees were green and it meant food was in abundance – leading many tribes to believe that emeralds held a mystical power and brought happiness and prosperity. Cleopatra had one of the first emerald mines in the now Sahara Desert. [...]

Unearthing the hoard: Mining for gemstones

Coloured gemstone mining is mining like no other. This is so because all the mechanised mining and equipment that is used to strip the waste and expose the potential gem-bearing ore, is inferior to two of the greatest extraction tools in this world – a pair of hands. No piece of equipment can gently move this rock and forcefully chisel that rock to expose and extract some of the world’s rarest, most beautiful and sought-after natural objects. The rarity and uniqueness actually extends even further back into the earth’s history – about 500 million years. 500 million years ago, a [...]

Stop, Press! Taking the perfect press photograph

The British love news, whether it’s royal babies or disgraced politicians, newspapers have held the fascination of the public for centuries. Press photography is a big part of our relationship with the news and this varied job takes photographers based in the UK around the world in pursuit of the latest stories. My work is predominantly for Bloomberg News who supply images for all the national papers and I also work directly for The Independent. The UK Picture Editors’ Guild Awards bring together the best photography from the last 12 months from photographers working for the British press. It is [...]

From saintly to saucy: the medieval badge that wasn’t as innocent as it seemed

Cataloguing the Museum’s collection of medieval pilgrim badges for Collections Online has been a great opportunity for me to look really closely at our objects and sometimes to find out that items are not at all what they appear to be. A great example recently has been a tiny little badge in the shape of a comb. This little badge (no. 8737) was catalogued in 1908 as a pilgrim badge of St Blaise with the following entry: ‘Blaise, Saint; a comb, with double row of teeth, divided by a foliated bar in the centre; 13th-14th century’. It was found at [...]

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