NYS MUSEUM TO HOST GEM, MINERAL, FOSSIL SHOW FEB. 25-26

Release Date: 
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Contact Information: 
Contact: Office of Communications Phone: (518) 474-1201

ALBANY, NY – Children will have the chance to dig for minerals while adults shop for their own treasures at the “19th Annual James Campbell Memorial Gem, Mineral and Fossil Show and Sale,” to be held February 25- 26 at the New York State Museum.

The Museum is open Saturday and Sunday for this special event, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the fourth-floor Terrace Gallery. The show will help fund new acquisitions for the Museum’s gem and mineral collections. Admission will be $4. Children aged 12 and under will get in free when accompanied by an adult. There is a separate $5 admission fee for “New York in Bloom,” on February 24-26.

The show will feature more than 30 vendors, who will display and sell gems, jewelry, minerals, fossils, books, videos, lapidary equipment and supplies, as well as stone carvings, bookends and silver and goldsmithing tools. There also will be children’s activities, mineral identification and guided exhibition tours.

Publications, produced by the Museum’s staff, documenting research in New York’s natural and human history, will also be for sale. Materials on display will include information on Geology, Archaeology, Paleontology, Anthropology, Biology, and History.

Other activities over the weekend will include:

  • A mineral dig for children, held throughout the weekend, hosted by the Capital District Mineral Club.
  • Guided tours on Saturday and Sunday at 2 p. m. of the Minerals of New York gallery. Michael Hawkins, the Museum’s mineralogy collections manager, will highlight recent acquisitions. Participants will meet in the Museum lobby.

The “Gem, Mineral and Fossil Show” was initiated by the late James Campbell, a member of the Museum’s Geology staff, and has become one of the Museum's most well-attended annual events.

Established in 1836, the State Museum is a program of the New York State Education Department’s Office of Cultural Education. Located on Madison Avenue in Albany, the Museum is open Monday through Saturday from 9:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. except on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. Further information can be obtained by calling (518) 474-5877 or visiting the museum website at www.nysm.nysed.gov.

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