FEATURE ARTICLE

The Hamlin Necklace is a treasure of the Mineralogical and Geological Museum at Harvard University(MGMH) that was designed and commissioned by Augustus Choate Hamlin in the late nineteenth century.(See cover photo.)

Apreeminent piece in the MGMH collections, the neck-lace is a notable piece of 19th century North Americanjewelry design and is primarily comprised of colorful

Maine tourmalines set in gold. It became property of theMGMH in 1934, along with a magnificent set of eighty-sevencut tourmaline gemstones in a rainbow of colors. Supportingthe necklace is a suite of watercolors and minerals donatedin 1892 by James Garland of New York, as well as four addi-tional gem pendants, a stick pin and a small notebook of wa-tercolors donated by Fred Pough in 1997. The entire HamlinCollection highlights the beauty of gem quality tourmalinesfrom the state of Maine.

Tourmaline is a silicate mineral groupwell known for its complex structureand chemical diversity that consist ofmore than 30 different varieties. One ofthe most colorful and attractive gem va-riety being highly desirable is Elbaite,Na(Li1.5Al1.5)Al6(Si6O18)(BO3)3(OH)3(OH).Maine Elbaite’s colors usually are green,blue and pink depending on the amountof some of the chromophores such asiron and manganese therefore, differenthues and saturation levels of those pri-mary colors are observed (Alonso-Perez,in prep). Elbaites at Mt. Mica, Maine oc-curred in the miarolitic cavities, core ofthe pegmatite bodies. This pegmatiticbodies, concentrated along the northernparts of the Sebago pluton formed dur-ing the latest stages of crystallization ofhighly evolve granitic magmas and areenriched in light rare elements such asLi, Cs. This evolutionary path is recordedon the tourmalines making this gemhighly desirable from a research point of view in an attemptto understand the geological processes that leads to gemtourmaline formation and ultimately their causes of color(Alonso-Perez, in prep). Figure 1.

The first recorded discovery of gem quality tourmaline inthe United States occurred at Mount Mica, Maine. Elijah L.

Hamlin and Ezekiel Holmes discovered the deposits in 1820as they were searching for minerals. They spotted a vividgreen crystal at the base of an upturned tree, and laterfound many more crystals in an array of colors. The speci-mens were identified by Professor Silliman of Yale Collegeas tourmaline (Hamlin, 1895). Careful investigation of thearea by Elijah Hamlin and his son, Augustus Choate Hamlin(A. C. Hamlin), many years later revealed pegmatite pocketscontaining tourmaline crystals of significant size and qual-ity. The Mount Mica Tin and Mica Company commencedmining operations in 1881 with A. C. Hamlin as president.

The company mined Mt. Mica until 1890and discovered numerous fine tourma-line crystals. A .C. Hamlin and his minesuperintendent Samuel Carter found oneof the most productive pockets in 1886.A green tourmaline crystal from this findwas cut into an impressive 34.25 ct gem,later used by A. C. Hamlin as the centralpendant of the Hamlin Necklace (Per-ham,1987).

Augustus Choate Hamlin (1829-1905) wasa knowledgeable man with many inter-ests. After his death in 1905, the FreeportTimes declared Hamlin to be “one of themost distinguished men in Maine” (“Ham-lin, Author and Artist”). His interest inMount Mica tourmalines is evident in histwo publications, “The tourmaline. Its re-lation as a gem; its complex nature; itswonderful physical properties, etc., withspecial reference to the beautiful andmatchless crystals found in the state ofMaine (1873)” and “The history of MountMica of Maine, U.S.A. and its wonderful

deposits of matchless tourmaline (1895).” In these books, A.C. Hamlin not only demonstrates his acumen as a historian,mineralogist and businessman, but also puts on display hisartistic abilities. The color illustrations of tourmaline crystalsin The history of Mount Mica of Maine are elegant watercol-ors drawn by Hamlin to capture the beauty and wonder ofthese minerals. Figures 2 and 3.

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THE HAMLIN NECKLACERaquel Alonso-Perez and Theresa Smith

FIGURE 1. A tourmaline crystal from MountMica, Maine. Photo: Mineralogical and Geological Museum at Harvard UniversityCopyright 2012, President and Fellows ofHarvard College. All rights reserved.

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Around the same time, A.C. Hamlin was also applying hisartistic talents to jewelry design. Hamlin’s original note-book Catalogue of Gems and Jewels has numerous pagesof delicately rendered watercolors of pendants and

brooches. The detailed handwritten notes that accompanythe designs offer a rare glimpse into the extent of Ham-lin’s dedication to creating objects of beauty while captur-ing their unique histories and values. The notebook alsoreveals A. C. Hamlin’s penchant for cluster style pendants,with a single large gemstone set off by smaller stones.This stylistic preference carries into the Hamlin Necklaceto great effect. Figure 4.

The Hamlin Necklace was designed and created duringthe 1890s. Eighteen removable pendants with gems ofvarying colors, primarily tourmaline from Mount Mica,Maine, are attached to simple gold chain. In total, the sev-enty gemstones total 228.12 ct in weight and range in sizefrom roughly three to thirty-four carats. Hamlin appears tohave made the pendants removable and the necklace hasseventeen additional hooks. While Hamlin sketched pen-dants independently, he did not draw the necklace in itsentirety, leaving no concrete evidence of its earliest ap-pearance. Though Hamlin undoubtedly designed the neck-lace to be worn, not many have enjoyed the privilege ofwearing it. According to Jane Perham, “the wife of Vice-President Hannibal Hamlin was reputed to have worn onfrequent occasions the ‘Hamlin Necklace of North Ameri-can Gemstones’ (Perham, 1897).” Figure 5.

Hamlin bequeathed the Hamlin Necklace to his grand-daughter Elinor Cutting Hamlin with the stipulation that it

would become the property ofHarvard College upon herdeath or when she decided totransfer ownership. On June 7,1934, curator of the MGMHCharles Palache received theHamlin Necklace and a set ofMount Mica tourmaline gem-stones from Elinor’s father. In aletter to the treasurer of Har-vard College, Palache writes, “Ihave just received from Mr. Ed-ward Hamlin, 53 State Street,Boston, the so-called HamlinNecklace of Tourmalines and acollection of eighty-seven cuttourmalines which illustratethe variety of colors of thisgem as it occurred at Mt. Mica,Maine.” The necklace remainsone of the MGMH’s most val-ued treasures of the collection,a testament to the beauty ofAmerican gems and jewelry. u

This article in its original formwas previously published in theMunich Show theme book in

FIGURE 2 AND 3. Original watercolor sketches used to illustrate A.C. Ham-lin’s books. Photo: Mineralogical and Geological Museum at Harvard Univer-sity Copyright 2012, President and Fellows of Harvard College. Allrights reserved.

FIGURE 4. Pages from Hamlin’s Catalogue of Gems and Jewels. Photo: Mineralogical and Geological Museumat Harvard University Copyright 2012, President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.

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2016. Raquel Alonso-Perez is the curator of the MGMH andresponsible for access to, teaching, research, public educa-tion, and continued development of the world-class Earth Sci-ence collections at Harvard University. Theresa Smith,assistant curator at the MGMH is co-author in this article.

REFERENCESAlonso-Perez, R, (in prep) The Hamlin Necklace: a Ramanstudy of his Elbaites.

Hamlin, Augustus C. (1895) The History of Mount Mica ofMaine, U.S.A. and Its Wonderful Deposits of MatchlessTourmalines. Bangor, Maine.

“Hamlin, Author and Artist, Dead”(1905) Freeport Times 1 December issue.

Perham, Jane C, (1987) Maine’s Treasure Chest- Gems andMineral of Oxford County. West Paris, Maine.

ABOUT THE HARVARD MUSEUMThe Mineralogical and Geological Museum at HarvardUniversity (MGMH) cares for close to 100,000 mineralspecimens, 200,000 rock and ore samples, 1,600 me-teorite samples and over 1,600 gemstones from a vastrange of localities. Nearly 230 years of continuous culti-vation has resulted in an internationally known reposi-tory that has significantly contributed to themineralogical community. Benjamin Waterhouse wasthe first caretaker of the collection and was appointedin 1784 at the petition of future president John Adams.Harvard graduate A.F. Holden endowed the museum in1913 with funds for the care of the collections and madepossible the acquisition of the Hancock Collection, Can-field Collection, and Karabachek Collection among oth-ers. The mid-20th century was marked by the acquisitionof the Burrage Collection, which included the largestgold wire in the world. Contemporary acquisitions in-clude the Klein Collection of Tsumeb specimens, andthe T. Szenics Chilean mineral collection.FIGURE 5. A loose pendant, donated in 1997 by Fred Pough. Photo: Miner-

alogical and Geological Museum at Harvard University Copyright 2012,President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.