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Report
by Elizabeth Passmore: a ‘first-timer’ on the annual
Gem-A visit to Germany .
Each
year when reading the account in GJN of the visit to Idar-Oberstein
I have wished that I could have been among the party. I booked a
place for 2004 and hoped the trip would live up to expectations.
Twenty enthusiasts obeyed the joining instructions so that on Sunday
14 March at “ 7.30 a.m. exactly” the coach departed
from London. About half the participants had been at least once
before; a good omen for the first-timers.
Hard hats in place at the Steinkaulenberg mine.
Photo: Robert Frost. |
The programme included
visits to some places that had been part of previous tours and
some new ones. At the Steinkaulenberg mine, hard hats in place,
we learned how the mining of agates had laid the foundation
for today’s gem industry in Idar-Oberstein. What a hard
life those early workers had, hewing the rock by hand and once
in a while finding a nodule yielding agate that could be worked
in the style of the day. The cutting workshop at Bieleschleife
looked much as it did decades ago, with the water wheel providing
power for an amazing system of belts and pulleys running the
cutting wheels and tumbling drums. Jars of interesting looking
solutions for colouring the agate were stored in one corner
of the shed, but they had no labels: the exact recipes remain
closely guarded secrets. |
At the Edelstein Museum we had the first hint of just how fortunate we were to be part of the Gem-A group. Herr Thomas Lind, Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, introduced the collection and highlighted some of the special exhibits we might like to see. However clear the text and good the pictures of stones in books, seeing the real thing is always better. The range of rough material and cut stones was magnificent, especially in showing the variation in groups such as tourmaline, beryl, corundum and garnet. The well-thought out display of the material, the illumination and the labelling provide an exemplar for other museums.
At Gebrüder Bank, Professor Dr Bank gave us a masterly talk on the history of the gemstone industry in Idar and then showed us a selection of stones from his collection. I shall never look at an aquamarine again without remembering his words and visualising his specimens: the blue-green glass someone had tried to sell him as aquamarine; rough material of blue topaz and aquamarine; faceted stones showing the natural range of colour of aquamarine; and specimens of other beryls. There were also some specimens (destined for a museum) that took our breath away; their colour, cut and size were stunning, particularly the richness of the perfect 75 ct emerald-cut tanzanite.
Professor Bank explains.
Photo: Robert Frost.
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Specimens of beryl in the Bank collection.
Photo: Robert Frost.
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We were privileged to visit the German Gemmological Association and see students at work in coloured gemstone and diamond grading classes. They were keen to demonstrate the use of the various instruments and discuss their work.
Five times during the visit we arrived outside a fairly ordinary front door of a house only to enter a world we could not have previously imagined. We saw exquisite craftsmanship, beautiful faceted stones and people who clearly love their work. We met three members of the Pauly family producing carvings, each in their individual style. Wonderful cameos, engraved crystals and carved stones, each to be set in a unique piece of jewellery and each craftsman contributing to the continuing history of carving stones, but in a 21st century style.
We gazed at elegant bowls of ruby in zoisite, rock crystal, nephrite and rose quartz and at tables and stunning sculptures. Then we saw how Helmut Wolf transformed interesting looking blocks of stone into these wonderful, highly desirable objects. At Emil Becker’s, the beauty of the objects left many of us quite speechless. A ‘chocolate Easter egg with pralines’, all in stone: good for the waistline, but not the teeth! Exquisite flowers carved in tourmaline and opal (see front cover), and so much more. We listened intently as Manfred Wild talked passionately of the work of John Harrison in making his ‘sea clocks’ in his quest for the longitude prize of 1714 and looked in wonder at Wild’s version in rock crystal, gold and diamonds: a truly magnificent object.
On we went to see cabochon cutting and goldsmithing and all the time the list of places we wanted to revisit on the final day kept growing. So we made choices and concluded that the only real solution would be to visit Idar-Oberstein again, just as soon as possible.
| We had been promised something special for this 10th visit to Idar. At Gethmann’s Hotel we greatly enjoyed the wine tasting of 14 different wines beginning before dinner and continuing throughout the meal. The wine tasting, like everything else, was of high quality, enjoyable and educative. We were fortunate to have good leaders in Doug Garrod, Susanna van Rose and Mike Dickinson, Bill is a first class coach driver, Herr Gethmann a splendid host and the people we met during every visit could not have done more to make the trip a great success. So, did the trip live up to expectations? Yes, and after waiting so long to join the tour, I hope I shall become one of the returners. |
After the wine tasting – empty bottles! Photo: Robert
Frost. |
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