WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 7, at 10 AM in the Saratoga Library
Lecture by Ron Ringsrud: Colombian Emerald Mining and Dealing: The human side, revealed in all its romance, history and secrets.
With slides and a short DVD.
...and Book Signing.
In the Saratoga Library Commuity Room
Ron Ringsrud has been an independent emerald dealer for 20 years, specializing in Colombian emeralds. He has a residence in Saratoga as well as a house in the capital city of Colombia, Bogotá. He has lectured on emeralds at jewelry industry events, symposia, museums and the Gemological Institute of America (GIA).
Museum event
The Bowers Museum of Cultural History will host a new exhibit of the paintings and sculptures of Colombian artist Fernando Botero.
The event will feature the large and rare Itoco Emerald, a 472 carat emerald crystal from the Muzo mining region of Colombia. This tall hexagonal green crystal has, for 6 months, been on display at the GIA Museum (Gemological Institute of America) and will be again featured at the opening of the Botero Exhibit at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana on September 12. It will be in Los Gatos only two days. The emerald is the largest and finest single crystal to come from the Colombian emerald mines in decades.
This 472-carat rough Colombian emerald from the La Pita mine in Boyacá, Colombia was found in August 2008, and represents the culmination of an emerald bonanza that yielded over 300 million dollars of emeralds from Muzo and La Pita in just over a year. The emerald will be put on display at the Bowers Museum for the first six weeks of the Fernando Botero exhibit starting on September 12.
The owner of the stone, Hernando Sanchez, is a significant shareholder at La Pita, Chivor, and Muzo mines in Colombia's state of Boyacá. He wanted the crystal to be given a name that reflects the cultural history of the emerald mining region in Colombia. It is said that Itoco was the offspring of Fura and Tena, who were responsible for the creation of the world as it was known to the Muzo Indians, the first tribe of Indians to mine emeralds from those mountains.
The book, Emeralds, A Passionate Guide will be on sale
at the Gallelry Bookstore.