The
private collection of Clarence S. Bement, of Philadelphia, Pa.,
numbering 12,000 specimens of choice and carefully selected minerals,
is the finest in the United States, and is exceeded in magnitude and
excellence by only one or two collections of foreign museums. The high
standard of all the specimens is due to the fact that Mr. Bement
purchased from more than a dozen collections, one the largest—not his
own—in the country. The collection is remarkable for its magnificent
series, all in their natural state, of emeralds and sapphires, from
North Carolina; its Colorado and Mexican topaz; its very fine series of
garnets from Chester County, Pa., and other American localities ; its
sets of rutiles from Graves Mountain, Ga. Magnet Cove, Ark., Alexander
County, N. C, and Vermont. It also contains a unique series of quartz
specimens from every American locality; brown, black, and white
tourmaline from northern New York, and the green, red, and blue
varieties from Maine; and some of the finest known crystals of green
microcline (amazonstone) from Pike's Peak, Col., and Amelia County, Va.
In fact, nearly all the gem minerals, both American and foreign, are
fully represented in this cabinet in their native state, although Mr.
Bement says he is not a gem collector.1
Dr.
Augustus C. Hamlin, of Bangor, Me., owns a collection, the nucleus of
which was formed in 1826 by Elijah J. Hamlin. It includes nearly all
the precious stones found at Mount Mica and other tourmaline localities
in Maine, and contains several thousand crystals of every possible
shade of color from white to pink, red, blue, green, yellow, to black,
including some of the finest known specimens of rubellites, achroites,
and other varieties of tourmalines, also some fine foreign gems. Dr.
Hamlin has published two works on precious stones."
Frederick
Stearns, of Detroit, and Thomas T. Bouve, of Boston, Mass., have
excellent collections of precious stones, which, while not specially
valuable, are still full and representative as regards species and
varieties. Augustus Lowell, of Boston,
1
See Prof. Gerhard von Rath's descriptive article on this collection in
the Verhandlungen Des Naturh. Vereins d. Preuss. Rheinl. u. Westf., 1884, pages 295-304, of which an abstract by the author was published in the Jeweler's Circular for January, 1886.
sThe Tourmaline. (Boston, 1875.) Leisure Hours Among the Gems. (Boston,
1884.)
