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James Vose’s career as a gemologist has spanned more than 50 years, and The Maine Tourmaline Necklace is among its crown jewels.
Vose, 81, of Lincoln was one of the driving forces behind the creation of the necklace, commissioned by the Maine Retail Jewelers Association. The piece, crafted by goldsmith Addison Saunders of Ellsworth, was presented to then Gov. James Longley and his wife, Helen, in 1977.
The history of the necklace, as well as tourmaline in general, is the subject of a new book, “The Crown Jewels of Maine,” which Vose has written and will soon publish.
Vose took it upon himself to write the short book now because “Addison and I are the only ones left interested in seeing it done.”
Saunders, 73, declined Vose’s offer to act as co-author, instead choosing to be a source of information and sounding board for Vose.
“It just seemed to be self-serving,” Saunders said. “I was too close to the issue. Jim did all the backbreaking work. He’s spent so much time going over records. He’s the one who deserves the credit [as the author].”
Vose has been researching the book for about five years.
“I ran out of steam after a couple of years, but I got rejuvenated in the last two years,” he said.
The book opens with a brief history of tourmaline in Maine. Now the official state gemstone, it was first discovered by two students, Elijah Hamlin and Ezekiel Holmes, in the autumn of 1820 at Mount Mica in the Oxford County town of Paris. Identified as tourmaline by Prof. Benjamin Sillman of Yale in 1821, it was the first such discovery of the gemstone in North America.
After researching the book, Vose says he feels that he has solved what has long been a historical discrepancy, as tourmaline has been listed as being discovered in both 1820 and 1821 in various publications.
As part of his research, Vose found the original crystal tourmaline specimen at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, where it is now housed. He learned that the copyrights to the photo of the original specimen was held by the photography team of Harold and Erica Van Pelt of Los Angeles, and got permission to use the photo in his book.
In the photo, Vose noticed a gold band around the tourmaline. On the bottom of it, he made out the name Hamlin.
Vose saw more writing on one side, including a series of numbers, but couldn’t make it out clearly. So he contacted Jamie Newman at the museum and asked that a photo be taken with the specimen tilted on its side.
The numbers turned out to be the date 1820, and the word was “primus,” meaning “first among equals” in Latin.
In his book, Vose writes, “… with the engraved script wording on the gold band ‘Primus 1820,’ the logical conclusion is the first specimen was found in late autumn 1820. The students returned the spring of 1821, finding more crystals beyond the first found and at the time forwarded to professor Benjamin Silliman at Yale University for identification in the spring of 1821. So, found in 1820, identified in 1821.”
The Maine Tourmaline Necklace was made to honor another find, a huge quantity of gem tourmaline found in 1972 on Hall’s Ridge, a spur off Plumbago Mountain in Newry.
It was the brainchild of Vose, the newly elected president of the Maine Retail Jewelers Association in 1976.
“Jim had the idea of there becoming a remembrance piece of jewelry using the tourmaline found in 1972,” Saunders recalled. “He approached the membership, which was open to the idea.”
Saunders’ design was chosen, and he donated the 1,200 hours of labor that went into creating the necklace.
The MRJA paid for the tourmaline gemstones and gold needed for the project, except for the 24.86-carat rounded antique cushion cut faceted pink tourmaline that was its center focal point, which was donated by Dean McCrillis of Plumbago Mining Corp. It features 12 pink tourmalines, 10 light green tourmalines and one dark blue-green tourmaline. All of the stone settings are handmade of pure Maine gold nuggets.
Saunders appreciates that the necklace will be a legacy of his 40-plus-year career.
“It was meant to document this wonderful find of Maine’s state gem, as well as to leave behind a record for generations to come,” he said.
Vose hopes to have copies of his 38-page book ready to take to next week’s Tucson (Arizona) Mineral Show, one of the largest of its kind in the world. He also plans to have copies available locally by month’s end.
Tourmaline remains popular today, Vose said.
“Tourmaline comes in all colors, and it’s very desirable,” he said. “The people of Maine are very proud of it, and that’s why it’s so sought out.”
PRIMUS 1820 PHOTOS COURTESY OF HAROLD AND ERICA VAN PELT
Two students, Elijah Hamlin and Ezekiel Holmes, discovered tourmaline in Maine, but a discrepancy had long existed about what year that occurred: 1820 or 1821. As part of his research, Vose was able to locate the original crystal tourmaline specimen taken from Mount Mica in the Oxford County town of Paris; it is housed at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. A photo of the specimen, copyrighted to the photography team of Harold and Erica Van Pelt of Los Angeles, showed engraving that eventually appeared to solve the discrepancy: Hamlin and Holmes found the gem in the autumn of 1820 and returned to the site in 1821.
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