The Beauty of Sculpted Minerals

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In addition to celebrating Colgate’s Bicentennial, the university will also celebrate its 150-year association with the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City with The Beauty of Sculpted Minerals, an exhibit now displayed in the Robert M. Linsley Geology Museum.

sculpture carved in malachite of two figures

© AMNH/Dennis Milbauer

Founded by professor Albert S. Bickmore in 1869 and led by former Colgate president George D. Langdon Jr. in 1988, the AMNH loaned the mineral sculptures to the university from its Hall of Gems and Minerals collection. Although the Linsley Museum houses many ancient geological specimens formed by nature, including one of the first dinosaur eggs ever discovered, The Beauty of Sculpted Minerals presents structures that have been hand carved from minerals like nephrite and carnelian and shaped into intricate sculptures.

The exhibit will be on display for the entire 2018–19 academic year, closing on June 15, 2019.