Beginning Friday, Chicago’s Field Museum may be every girl’s—or gemologist’s—best friend. 

The permanent gem exhibit at Grainger Hall reopens Friday, Oct. 23, complemented by "The Nature of Diamonds," a temporary exhibit running through March 28.

Together, the exhibits contain more than 1,000 gems, pieces of jewelry, and other bejeweled adornments, ranging from belt buckles to brooches.

The Grainger Hall of Gems, a Field Museum mainstay, has been anything but set in stone since it originally opened 88 years ago, in 1921. Now, after its third renovation, the hall boasts brighter lights and a setting more suited to the subject.

“We took the room down to the studs and rebuilt to give it more of a regal feel when you walk in,” said Lance Grande, senior vice president and head of collections and research for the Field Museum. Grande is also curator of the Grainger Hall of Gems.  

The revamped Grainger Hall of Gems exhibit showcases more than 150 pieces of jewelry, dating from before Tutankhamen’s time to today’s Tiffany & Co. 

According to Grande, some of the previous exhibit’s stones were “glass facsimiles” –fakes—which have now been replaced with the real thing.     

World-famous jewelry designers were also enlisted to help create new pieces to host some the museum’s most precious gems. 

“We had some really spectacular world-class pieces, but they were unset stones, and they were perhaps not well highlighted in the previous exhibit,” Grande said.   

“This time around we wanted see if we could to get named designers across the country interested in setting these in designs that would emphasize the stone but still represent human artistry. “

Designers included local Chicago jewelers Ellie Thompson, Lester Lampert, Marc Scherer, and Oak Park Jewelers. The noted Mish Tworkowski of Mish New York and the late Jean Schlumburger for Tiffany & Co. were also enlisted to design settings.

Thompson was tasked with setting one of the museum’s golden beryls in the spirit of science and beauty.   

“I wanted to create something that would evoke imagination and also help highlight the stone itself to work within the exhibition itself, having the gemstone in its natural form…” Thompson said. 

Downstairs, the visiting Nature of Diamonds exhibit covers some 7,000 square feet of space.“The Vault” is its centerpiece. 

Inside The Vault, visitors can ogle some of the largest diamonds ever found, including the flawless Incomparable Diamond, weighing in at 407 carats.

Other highlights include the 128-carat yellow Tiffany Diamond, worn by actress Audrey Hepburn in the movie “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”

Visitors are also treated to case after case of spectacular diamond settings in rings, necklaces, and pins, including some designed for the wealthiest of royalty, such as Catherine the Great, and Hollywood royalty, such as Elton John.  

But diamonds don’t come out of the ground dazzling, and the museum has the proof—and the process—on display. 

The Nature of Diamonds exhibit begins with an explanation of diamond mining and ends with a showcase of the way diamonds are cut to give them the brilliant light-reflecting qualities they’re so prized for. 

Each of the gemstones in Grainger Hall is also shown in its natural state, embedded in rock (called a matrix by gemologists), right beside a cut and polished final product, so visitors can witness the transformation. 

Visitors can also learn the science behind the stones. The exhibit also explains the differing chemical compositions which give gemstones their color and physical characteristics. 

And for those looking for deeper implications, rather than purely decorative ones, The Nature of Diamonds exhibit also puts the stones to work in the medical and scientific fields. Visitors can learn about the use of diamond-edged blades for surgical purposes and the use of diamond drills for collecting rock samples on Mars. 

But science aside, the beauty of the gems like the Tiffany Diamond may be what appeals to visitors, such as Ann Higby, who previewed the exhibit on Oct. 20. 

“I’m just attracted to the color of it because I don’t think I’ve ever seen something that yellow and sparkly. It’s just beautiful. It is just beautiful,” Higby said.