NHM Los Angeles Debuts Unearthed: Raw Beauty Featuring Raw Gems and Jewelry

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in Exposition Park presents Unearthed: Raw Beauty, an exhibition that pairs raw, uncut mineral specimens with finished jewelry made from those same materials and places several of the largest and rarest examples on public view. Visitors encounter a Chrysanthemum Stone weighing over 900 lbs, celestine crystals blooming through black shale, alongside fine pieces described by the museum as “beautiful jewelry created from rare minerals.”

Curatorial framing emphasizes the intersection of aesthetics and science. Dr. Aaron Celestian, NHM’s Curator of Mineral Sciences, says, “Unearthed: Raw Beauty showcases minerals as both natural art and scientific discovery,” and adds that the specimens “simultaneously captivate visitors’ imaginations through their aesthetic perfection while revealing billions of years of Earth's chemical evolution and inspiring breakthroughs in materials science.” Dr. Lori Bettison-Varga, President and Director of NHMLAC, calls the grouping “truly magnificent in scale and rarity” and notes that large-scale, uncut minerals are rarely displayed together, creating “an otherworldly experience.”

The specimen roster reads like a geologic and regional map. The show reunites a grouping of extremely rare blue cap tourmalines discovered near San Diego for the first time, and it showcases California mineral treasures such as bright pink kunzite, orange spessartine, deep blue benitoite identified as California’s state gemstone, and a natural gold “flame” identified as California’s state mineral. Loan and collection attributions include the Dr. Robert Lavinsky Collection for the Chrysanthemum Stone.

International highlights and scale are equally dramatic. Amethyst geodes and an “Amethyst Window” from the Artigas Department in Uruguay reveal glittering white calcite crystals at their centers, material the museum says formed after the initial amethyst geodes developed approximately 80 million years ago; photographic documentation for that material includes a credit to Gina Cholick, 2025. The galleries also present “enormous crystals that are thicker than a tree trunk,” “massive touchable crystals,” exquisite carvings from China, and a large fossil ammonite that “magically comes to life,” all elements listed in the museum’s exhibition copy.

Unearthed makes a literal comparison between raw and refined. The museum’s presentation of finished jewelry alongside mineral specimens invites close study of how lapidary choice and setting translate raw color and form into wearable art. For context, BowmanOriginals, a lapidary studio in Sarasota, Florida, documents the hand-driven process that shapes materials such as sodalite, malachite, lapis lazuli, and chrysoprase into cabochons and finished rings, bracelets, necklaces, pendants, and earrings, underscoring the craft lineage from rough to jewel.

The exhibition is on view at NHM Los Angeles and the museum notes that members admission is always free; local listings encourage the public to reserve tickets now. Unearthed: Raw Beauty stages a tactile lesson in earth chemistry and craftsmanship, asking visitors to reconcile mineral time scales with the intimate scale of jewelry.