Jewelers Mutual donated more than 500 cts. of rough diamonds to
the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 4.

The larger diamonds will be added to the Smithsonian’s
public diamond exhibit and will be featured on the museum’s mineral website.

The collection will provide ongoing education to the jewelry
industry, researchers, and the buying public.

The rough diamonds in their current state have limited
retail market value.

Jeffery Post, the curator for the Smithsonian’s Natural Gem
and Mineral Collection, picked the rough diamond collection.

“Dr. Post has explained that this collection is particularly
unusual and valuable to science because each diamond is labeled with the actual
location where it was mined,” Ron Harder, curator of the R. Harder Gallery and
former president and CEO of Jewelers Mutual, said in a statement.

Jewelers Mutual originally acquired the diamond collection
to display in the company’s on-site R. Harder Gallery of Gems and Minerals.

JCK