Skip to main content

## Search

My Visit

Donate

Smithsonian Institution

## Site Navigation

- Visit   - Hours and Locations
  - Entry and Guidelines
  - Maps and Floor Plans
  - Dining and Shopping
  - Accessibility
  - Visiting with Kids
  - Group Visits     - Group Sales
- What's On   - Exhibitions     - Current
    - Upcoming
    - Past
  - Today's Events
  - Online Events
  - All Events
  - IMAX & Planetarium
- Explore   - Art & Design
  - History & Culture
  - Science & Nature
  - Collections     - Open Access
  - Research Resources     - Libraries
    - Archives       - Smithsonian Institution Archives
      - Air and Space Museum
      - Anacostia Community Museum
      - American Art Museum
      - Archives of American Art
      - Archives of American Gardens
      - American History Museum
      - American Indian Museum
      - Asian Art Museum Archives
      - Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, African Art
      - Hirshhorn Archive
      - National Anthropological Archives
      - National Portrait Gallery
      - Ralph Rinzler Archives, Folklife
      - Libraries' Special Collections
  - Podcasts
  - Mobile Apps
- Learn   - For Caregivers
  - For Educators     - Art & Design Resources
    - Science & Nature Resources
    - Social Studies & Civics Resources
    - Professional Development
    - Events for Educators
    - Field Trips
  - For Students
  - For Academics
  - For Lifelong Learners
- Get Involved   - Volunteer     - Behind-the-Scenes
    - Digital Volunteers
    - Smithsonian Call Center
    - Visitor Information Specialist
    - Docent Programs
  - Citizen Science
  - Work with Us     - Office of Human Resources       - Working Here
      - Employee Benefits
      - How to Apply
      - Job Opportunities
      - Job Seekers with Disabilities
      - Frequently Asked Questions
      - SI Civil Program
      - Contact Us
    - Affiliations
    - Global Partners
- Support   - About Membership
  - Become a Member
  - Renew Your Membership
  - Make a Gift
- About   - Museums and Zoo
  - Research Centers
  - Cultural Centers
  - Education
  - Our Organization     - Leadership       - Secretary Bunch
      - Advancement
      - Communications
      - Administration
      - Education
      - Museums and Culture
      - Science and Research
    - Board of Regents       - Members
      - Committees
      - Reading Room
      - Bylaws, Policies and Procedures
      - Contact
      - Schedules and Agendas
      - Meeting Minutes
      - Actions
      - Webcasts
    - General Counsel       - Legal History
      - Internships
      - Records Requests         - Reading Room
      - Tort Claim
      - Subpoenas & Testimonies
      - Events
    - Equal Employment Office       - EEO Complaint Process
      - Individuals with Disabilities
      - Special Emphasis Program
      - Supplier Diversity Program         - Doing Business with Us
        - Policies and Procedures
        - Additional Resources
    - Sponsored Projects       - Policies         - Animal Care and Use
        - Human Research
      - Reports
      - Internships
  - Reports and Plans     - Annual Reports
    - Metrics Dashboard       - Dashboard Home
      - Virtual Smithsonian
      - Public Engagement
      - National Collections
      - Research
      - People & Operations
      - One Smithsonian
    - Strategic Plan
  - Newsdesk     - News Releases
    - Media Contacts
    - Photos and Video
    - Media Kits
    - Fact Sheets
    - Visitor Stats
    - Secretary and Admin Bios
    - Filming Requests

Exhibitions

# Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals

                  - Share IconShare Icon                     - 
                    - 
                    - 
                    - 
                    -
                  -                     - 
                    - Print
                    -      **Add to My Visit  
National Museum of Natural History							10th St. & Constitution Ave., NWWashington, DC						
													2nd Floor, East Wing							
									See on map								Floor Plan

This hall features 2,500 minerals and gems, including the Hope Diamond, Hooker Emerald Brooch, and Star of Asia sapphire. It also explores the birth and evolution of the solar system and the earth's changing surface and is divided into the following sections:

**The Harry Winston Gallery** houses the Hope Diamond, in a specially designed case.

**The National Gem Collection** features:
- the Dom Pedro aquamarine, the world's largest faceted aquamarine, cut into an obelisk standing 13.75 inches tall and weighing 10,363 carats (4.6 pounds)
- the Cindy Chao Black Label Masterpiece Royal Butterfly Brooch (2009), composed of 2,328 gems, including sapphires, diamonds, rubies, and tsavorite (green) garnets, for a total weight of 77 carats; many of the gems fluoresce under ultraviolet light (to be added March 6, 2013)
- the Marie Antoinette diamond earrings
- a 263-carat diamond necklace and a diadem (tiara) given by Napoleon to Empress Marie-Louise
- the Janet Annenberg Hooker fancy yellow diamonds
- 2 topaz crystals from Brazil, weighing 111 and 70 pounds respectively, and a 23,000-carat cut-and-polished topaz
- a 423-carat sapphire set in diamonds
- the DeYoung red and pink diamonds
- the 127-carat Portuguese diamond, the largest cut diamond in the collection
- the Rosser Reeves ruby
- the Carmen Lucia Ruby, weighing 23.1-carats, is one of the largest faceted Burmese rubies known to exist. The stone is set in platinum and flanked by 2 triangular colorless diamonds measuring 1.1 and 1.27 carats.

**The Minerals and Gems Gallery** features some 2,000 specimens grouped by shape, color, growth, and other characteristics.

**The Mine Gallery** features a re-creation of 4 mines showing crystal pockets and ore veins in created dioramas.

**The Plate Tectonics Gallery** illustrates how earthquakes, mountain chains, and volcanoes result from the constantly shifting plates of the Earth's surface and features the "Plate Tectonics Theater" and interactive computer stations.

**The Moon, Meteorites, and Solar System Gallery** explores the birth and evolution of our solar system through films, computer interactives, and specimens and features moon rocks, a touchable Mars rock, meteorites, and stardust. Here you can see the first public display of a sample of Bennu—a carbon-rich, near-Earth asteroid.

**The Rocks Gallery** focuses on how rocks record and verify the geological processes that have shaped our planet—erosion and deposition, which destroy and create rocks on Earth's surface and heat and pressure, which transform and melt rocks within the Earth.

**Related books**:
- The National Gem Collection , Smithsonian Institution and Jeffrey E. Post
- Hope Diamond: The Legendary History of a Cursed Gem,  Richard Kurin
Learn More           Footer logo      
Link to homepage
      Footer navigation      - Contact Us
- Accessibility
- Job Opportunities
- Inspector General
- Records Requests
- EEO & Supplier Diversity
- Shop Online
- Host Your Event
- Press Room
- Privacy
- Terms of Use
      Social media links      - Facebook
- Instagram
- Twitter
- YouTube
      Email signup form      Yes, I would like to receive email from the Smithsonian.Deny submitSign up for Smithsonian e-news:        Email powered by BlackBaud (Privacy Policy, Terms of Use)  Back to Top