Spring Color in Maine Tourmlaine

It's lovely here in downtown Center Lovell these days.  Birds are back singing and the streams are running.  We hope to see the end of this years ice soon! 

 Speaking of ice, a blue ice color, that is, this deep ice blue Maine tourmaline has a diamond on each side to give it that extra sparkle. 

We have been working on new ideas for setting all our beautiful Maine tourmalines.  This new bracelet design fits close and comfortable with easy on, safe wearability and easy off.  The gorgeous Maine Rubellite is perfect center stage on your wrist.

The line between blue and green is blurred with these lovely Maine tourmalines together on a white gold band.  Depending on the light, the surrounding colors they dance between blue and green.  Like Kezar Lake when the ice is gone and the tall pines reflect their green hues, the sky it's many shades of blue, together on the sparkling surface of the ice free water.

Funny all the colors you see with these Maine bright blues and rich Rubellite tourmalines set together with white and yellow gold.  The pink has flashes of purple and orange.  The blues flicker sparks of bight purple and white.  And as always they change with their surrounding light and color.

Here they are all together.  I couldn't resist.  The golds are all different colors too.  Winter can be fun in the jewelry studio!

Cabochon style cut bright pink Maine tourmaline set in yellow gold has hints of orange and red.  

Peach or champagne?  Or both!  Designer cut flawless Maine tourmaline with diamonds in yellow gold.  Rich with colors and sparkles, every angle a new delight.  This ring is fun to wear driving in the sun!

I'm ready for another fun day in the studio discovering what the gems want to be when they are set.  

Stop by when you are in beautiful downtown Center Lovell on route 5 overlooking Kezar Lake and the White Mountains to see all the colors!!

Murad Sayen: Painting From The Heart

Murad Sayen at Harvest Gold Gallery

  

Murad Sayen is an oil painter based in Maine whose job has been to tell stories with his brush about what it means to be a human on earth in the 21^st century.  By portraying ordinary people doing mundane things in everyday places, Murad’s hope is that the observer will be aware of the preciousness of every moment in life; for in every moment there is a source of knowledge that can give us a sense of peacefulness.

Murad also paints still life objects that convey the message of the simple power of beauty.  As Murad explains, we intuitively know from early childhood that beauty touches our heart and pulls us into the moment.

Several of Murad’s oil on panel paintings reside at Harvest Gold Gallery, including the still life Bittersweet and The Boat Ride.  Both paintings are framed.  About Bittersweet, the artist says he enjoyed painting the various items and was inspired by the way the bittersweet almost floats across the scene.  The Boatride is a painting about the love of a man and his dog. The artists’ effort was to capture the exchange of glances between them and some sense of how much they trust one another.

                                        

Born in 1945, Murad grew up in New Jersey, the oldest son of a manufacturer.  After spending three years in the U.S. Army Infantry, '64-'67, he attended a major state university where he majored in philosophy of ethics.  Murad has had a lifelong interest in history, particularly that of the Holocaust and aviation in the European theater of WWII.  For many years he was a craftsman of international reputation of one-of-a-kind ‘art knives’.

Besides being a master landscape and nature photographer, Murad is a writer and has published two novels and a photography book. Above and Beyond is a WWII era historical fiction novel and Skana is an ‘eco-thriller.’  The photography book, Maine, the Home Place, was published in 2003 and features ninety-six breathtaking and provocative color images.  These days, Murad’s writings are more along the lines of blogging and essays on art and society, some of which may be viewed at http://muradsayensblog.blogspot.com/.

A Little Maine Tourmaline History Lesson

The tourmaline industry in Maine began in 1820, the same year Maine became the 23rd state, upon the discovery of scattered deposits of the gemstone. Two students, Ezekiel Holmes and Elijah Hamlin were exploring the hills of south Paris in late august when a glimpse of green caught Elijah’s eye. They found several gemstones on Mt. Mica and continued returning to the site in the spring with more success. News spread of the gems and many villagers visited the mountain and specimens were sent to Yale University professor Benjamin Silliman who first identified them as tourmaline. The first mining of the mountain was a crude blast carried out by Elijah and his younger brothers Hannibal and Cyrus. They harvested more than twenty crystals of various greens and red colors, some larger than two inches long and one inch in diameter. Soon, the mountain became well known as the foremost mining site for minerals in the north, and is still considered to have the greatest potential for additional mining of gemstones and minerals. As recently as 1978, major deposits of large tourmaline have been found at Mount Mica.

HISTORY AND LORE

Hannibal Hamlin, brother of Mt. Mica discoverer, Elijah Hamlin, eventually went on to be the first Vice President under Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. Being such an important individual in state and national history, Hannibal has a well documented life growing up in Maine with his brothers. One of the most famous stories about his life connects him with native Maine Abenaki doctress and historical figure, Molly Ockett. During the winter of 1809-10, Molly Ockett was traveling through Paris, Maine when harsh weather forced her to seek shelter. She was turned away, until she came to the home of Dr. Cyrus Hamlin and his wife Anna who welcomed her. Molly, having befriended the couple, continued to return to their home, and one spring found Anna “sitting in her doorway one day, rocking her feeble infant”. The story then tells that Molly Ockett  looked at the child intently and said to feed the “papoose” warm milk from a cow, or he will die. Hannibal, the baby, once given the treatment, healed rapidly.

Molly Ockett

Molly Ockett was well known in Maine for giving her medical advice to those in need in return for shelter and other goods. Native American medical traditions she may have used include, herbal remedies, and possibly, the use of tourmaline. The gemstone may have been used in her work because it was traditionally known for its detoxifying properties for treating skin disorders, and cleansing and removing excess toxins from the body. Native Americans had many uses for tourmalines; green or pink tourmaline was used a funeral gift and schorl, or black tourmaline,  was thought to possess protective properties. Tourmaline does have unique scientific properties like pyroelectricity where the crystals become electrically charged when warmed, and piezoelectricity where the gem generates electrical charge when pressure is applied. They are still used in some healing practices today.

PLUMBAGO MOUNTAIN MINE

The preliminary discovery and exploration of the largest gem find in North America was made by George Hartman, Dale Sweatt, and James Young of August 1972 in Newry, Maine at Plumbago Mountain. By October 1972, Plumbago Mining Corporation was formed by George Hartman, Dale Sweatt, Frank Perham, and Dean McCrillis Sr., who then began mining the area and keeping a daily log of the events that ran through 1974. Upon their first day of mining their log reads “it appears the pocket [of tourmaline] may be large than we thought”-- and it was. As they continued the yield turned from a few good gems a day, to several hundred pounds of gem material. The team was persistent even through the autumn rains that washed out their only access road to the site. By November 5th 1972, they had opened several more pockets and had dug 25-30 feet into the mountain. The end yield of 1972 alone was over 1 metric ton of pure quality tourmaline gems, approximately 3.5 million carats worth. Through the winter of 1972-1973 they sorted their material and resumed in spring of 1973 with an opening of 8-10 more pockets. The 1972 Plumbago mountain find produced the largest, highest quality, and widest shade variety of pink tourmalines anywhere in the world, and put Maine back on the map of world tourmaline sites.

The Peary Necklace

PEARY NECKLACE

In 1913 arctic explorer, Admiral Peary, commissioned a Brunswick jeweler to craft a tourmaline necklace for his wife Josephine’s 50th birthday. Josephine would accompany Peary during most of his expeditions and he felt he needed to thank her with a one of a kind gift. The jeweler, John Towne, mined all 37.5 ct. of gems from Mt. Apatite in Auburn, and hand cut each stone. The entirety of the gold, approximately 0.5 oz. was panned from Swift River in Byron, Maine then melted by a Portland jeweler who then set the gems in it. The necklace is now on display in the Maine State Museum in Augusta.

HAMLIN NECKLACE

Augustus Choate Hamlin, relative of Elijah and Hannibal Hamlin, had this necklace made with stones from Mt. Mica. Hamlin had purchased Mount Mica farm to mine the pegmatite, a composition of intergrowths of quartz, feldspar, and lavender mica, and ended up constructing the finest collection of specimens known in his time. He was a distinguished physician, businessman, and later Mayor of Bangor, Maine. He was also an ardent lover of gem minerals and often illustrated the tourmaline crystals that turned up in his mine in watercolor and published several books of his illustrations. Most of the originals of his paintings are preserved in the Harvard Mineralogical Museum along with the Hamlin necklace.

Maine Tourmaline Presentation, August 19

Harvest Gold Gallery Owner & Jeweler

Lynda Rasco

Owners Bill and Lynda

 will be presenting

 The History of Maine 
Tourmaline & Jewelry

Tuesday

August 19, 2014  

7:00 PM

 at the Charlotte Hobbs Memorial Library

227 Main Street, Lovell, Maine  04051

Tourmaline is as woven into the history of Maine as the gem is woven into our mountains. Tales of tourmaline date farther back than our statehood with the Native Americans and their uses for the gemstone. Key figures include Molly Ockett, Admiral Peary, and the Hamlin family, specifically Ezekiel and his brother Hannibal Hamlin who went on to become the Vice President under Abraham Lincoln. Come hear the exciting archive of tourmaline mining in our very own Oxford County, and learn how Maine became a tourmaline capital of the world. Owner of Harvest Gold Gallery and expert jeweler, Lynda Rasco, will be giving an in-depth look at this history, along with her professional knowledge of tourmaline. She will touch on Maine’s famous historical pieces of tourmaline jewelry, and the bright future of the tourmaline business. Her talk will be accompanied with a short powerpoint and some of her own gorgeous tourmaline jewelry will be displayed. Gem enthusiasts, local history buffs, and anyone curious about the fascinating story behind the Maine state gem is sure to walk away with a deeper knowledge and appreciation for tourmaline.

The Famous Peary Necklace

We hope to see you there!

Vote for Real Maine Wedding Winners' Bridesmaids Jewelry from Harvest Gold Gallery

Lynda Rudd, jeweler/owner of Harvest Gold Gallery with Tara and Trevor

For those of you who have been following you already know that Tara and Trevor have won the 2014 Real Maine Wedding of the Year contest and that the lucky couple has been choosing wedding jewelry and gifts from Harvest Gold Gallery for their wedding in Bethel, Maine. The public has been voting to help Tara and Trevor make their choices for wedding jewelry and gifts. Now it's time for you to help them again by voting on jewelry for Tara's bridesmaids.

Tara chose three sets of jewelry at Harvest Gold Gallery. Please help her narrow it down to one set of jewelry. Vote by July 10th and the winning set will be revealed on July 11th. Tara will give the winning set to her bridesmaid's as gifts! Below are the jewelry set choices. 

Cast your vote for the set you like best here. Happy voting and congrats again to Tara and Trevor!

Set 1

 Set 2

                             

  Set 3

Sandhill Crane Sighting at Harvest Gold Gallery

Sandhill Crane, Lovell, Maine, photo by Lynda Rasco

Yesterday Lynda and Bill saw the first of the snowbirds return to visit Harvest Gold Gallery when a sandhill crane was spotted behind their gallery. According to an ornithologist friend this species of crane normally prefers a reedy environment, so a sighting in a field is rare. Perhaps this fella is nesting along the nearby Saco River? In any case, it reminded us that nature is often an inspiration for artists in their respective mediums. In honor of Poetry Month we're sharing a poem about sandhill cranes by Mary Austin, as well as images of Harvest Gold Jewelry's inspired by our feathery friends.

The Sand-Hill Crane

WHENEVER the days are cool and clear,

The sand-hill crane goes walking

Across the field by the flashing weir,

Slowly, solemnly stalking.

The little frogs in the tules hear,

And jump for their lives if he comes near;

The fishes scuttle away in fear

When the sand-hill crane goes walking.

The field folk know if he comes that way,

Slowly, solemnly stalking,

There is danger and death in the least delay,

When the sand-hill crane goes walking.

The chipmunks stop in the midst of play;

The gophers hide in their holes away;

And 'Hush, oh, hush!' the field-mice say,

When the sand-hill crane goes walking. 

Mary Austin

Stop by and say Hi when you are passing through beautiful downtown Center Lovell,  overlooking Kezar Lake and the White Mountains.

Can you see it?

The Hummingbird teaches us;

The Impossible is Possible.

Maine Tourmaline Rings

Winter has been good to the Maine tourmaline ring cases here at Harvest Gold Gallery!
Day after day of beautiful Maine winter white, but I needed some color. The shades are so beautiful-- I just had to share! 

Deep pink rubellite in yellow gold with diamond embellishments

Light pink rubellite in yellow gold

Sea blue indicolite with rose and white gold

All of the rings are stackable- how fun!

You can see the catseye pattern in the gem is mirrored in the band

Pink bicolor in rose and white gold, gorgeous

Sea blue gem with a lovely sparkle

Another sea blue, this time with diamond embellishment

Beatiful pink rubellite in classic yellow gold setting

Yet another amazing rubellite

Straight from Mt. Mica Maine!

Pink rubellite in yellow gold

.

Our deepest red rubellite in white and green gold!

And my new favorite- the new Kezar Lake ring

We're loving the spring colored gems in our snowy winter here in beautiful downtown Center Lovell, Maine.

Harvest Gold is open daily and always on the web.