Next morning Bill picked us up and we drove around town for a while before our meeting with a Curator at the Smithsonian. We happened upon a truck in the No-Truck-Go-Zone. Nothing big enough to carry a lot of explosives is allowed in close proximity to critical Govt buildings; this truck is right over the top of the tunnel we went through connecting the Russell Senate building and Capitol building. There were quite a few angry gun toting police and security guards and cars surrounding the truck. We parked a block away from the White House and took this shot of Drena and Bill out front. The third photo, off to the left of the other, is where the press have semi permanent camera and lighting set-ups. When we see news reports with a journalist being interviewed with the White House in the background, this is where it is filmed.
Pictured above is Russell C Feather, II, Collection Manager/Gemologist at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Almost every public gallery and place in Washington is part of the Smithsonian, but the next photo is probably the most famous of the entire collection. And we were amazed at how close and how accessible this most famous (infamous) diamond was. The only thing we would have liked in addition would have to had the option to see it under UV light (It turns bright red). Russell took us into the back rooms and the strong room where all the valuable off display collection is housed. There would easily be 5 times more there than on display at any one time.
We were lucky to get up very close to the aurora collection, shown here in flash and closer in normal light. An early 18th Century Trembler Tiara shows the brass coils that allow the diamond flowers to vibrate and move.
Below are a few shots from the display. The huge faceted calcite showed how dispersion colors can get a muddy appearance when a beam is split into two dispersed rays that mix. The Pyrite cubes were amazing, and the Asscher cut 'Portuguese diamond' has such strong fluorescence that it is clearly visible in any lighting.