Category: Program Meeting

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Diamonds?… In California?… and Just About Everything Else You Might Want to Know About a ‘Girl’s Best Friend’

Tuesday, November 15 Program Meeting, 7:00 p.m.

For our November Program Meeting, we’re delighted that Renée Newman will be our speaker, providing images and information in her presentation on Diamonds that includes, among other things, the most significant discoveries of rough diamond crystals, five basic diamond crystal types and their relative value from highest priced to lowest priced, where to find diamonds in the U.S., and what American diamonds look like in the rough in order to help you spot them while prospecting and rockhounding.

Renée has a book out entitled Diamonds: Their History, Sources, Qualities and Benefits and much of her presentation is reflected in her book.

Renée Newman developed her interest in gems while conducting tours to Asia, South America and the South Pacific. Her passengers wanted information about the gems that were displayed in hotels and stores so she signed up for a colored stone grading course at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) in order to be able to answer their questions. The teachers there inspired her to complete the GIA colored stones and diamonds program.  

After receiving a graduate gemologist diploma from the GIA, Renee was hired as a gemologist at a diamond wholesale firm in downtown Los Angeles. It provided hands-on experience grading diamonds and selecting colored gems and pearls for their jewelry. Armed with trade experience and gemological credentials, Renée decided to create books that showed readers how to visually evaluate the quality of gems. Her first book, the Diamond Ring Buying Guide, was published in 1989. Since that time, she has written thirteen more books on gems and jewelry, including the Diamond Handbook geared to trade professionals and her new large-format book Diamonds: Their History, Sources, Qualities and Benefits. Information about it is available at http://www.reneenewman.com/diamonds.htm

Renée’s books are used as consumer guides, gemology course textbooks, sales training tools and appraisal references and are listed at www.reneenewman.com/books.htm.  Renée will be selling her books at a discount and autographing them before and after her presentation. Bring cash or a check if you would like to purchase copies of them.

PLS member Curtis Schurer will discuss Jasper for the Rock of the Month presentation. Jasper is an opaque, impure variety of silica, comes in several colors, and is often found in the Mojave Desert.

This program meeting takes place at 7:00 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall of The Santa Anita Church, 226 W. Colorado Blvd., Arcadia, CA 91007. 

Come join us! Doors open at 6:30, admission is free; open to the public. Enjoy refreshments while checking out the display table; bring a rock specimen you’d like identified. See you there!

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A Magical Evening is in Store for October 18 Program Meeting, 7:00 pm

Join us at our Tuesday, October 18 Program Meeting where award-winning mixed-media artist Linda Queally will discuss the rich history of Pearls in the Americas, and how they’ve been associated with Mermaids since the first Siren’s Song was heard.

Linda works in acrylic and fine art paper on claybord in her vibrant mystical paintings, and with cultured pearls and mixed metals in her simple, elegant jewelry designs. She studied Art and Design at Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, is a Certified Pearl Specialist with the Cultured Pearl Association of America, and holds a Certificate of Gemology from Santiago Canyon College in Orange. 


This program meeting takes place at 7:00 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall of The Santa Anita Church, 226 W. Colorado Blvd., Arcadia, CA 91007. 

Join us for an enchanting evening! Admission is free; open to the public. Enjoy refreshments while checking out the display table; bring a rock specimen you’d like identified. See you there!

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PLS August 16th Meeting takes a look at ‘Geology from 30,000 feet above’

The August general meeting will feature a talk by member Paolo Sanchez who will focus on large-scale landscape geology. The presentation should be helpful for understanding Earth science, and to an extent, minerals, from the viewpoint of the window seat of a plane. While flying across the state and the country, Paolo took many pictures of geologic landscapes. He plans to talk about prominent geologic features such as the San Andreas Fault, Cascade Volcanoes, and the Colorado Plateau. We hope to see you there!

This program meeting is at 7:00 p.m. at Fellowship Hall of The Santa Anita Church, 226 W. Colorado Blvd., Arcadia, CA 91007. Come to learn and make new friends; open to the public, free admission. 

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Rhodochrosite is Spotlight of In-Person Program Meeting; Tuesday, May 17th, 7:00 p.m.



The story of the Sweet Home Mine from its beginnings as a modest 1870’s silver mine to its rebirth as a world-renowned source of beautiful red rhodochrosite crystals will be featured in this month’s program. We will view Part 1 of a video illustrating the accidental discovery of one of our nation’s most impressive sources of this beautiful gemstone.

This program meeting is at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, May 17 and will be held IN PERSON. Check out our Meetings page to get directions and further info about the location.

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In-Person Program Meeting April 19, 2022, 6:30 PM

We are having our first in-person program meeting in over a year! PLS member Janie Duncan will provide a presentation on the History of Beads Tuesday night, April 19, and members are looking forward to seeing each other in the flesh for a change, instead of virtually. Check out our Meetings page to get directions and further info about the location. We are VERY excited!

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Gem Pegmatites of Southern California Subject of March 15 Virtual Program Meeting with Walt Lombardo

Zoom Meeting starts at 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Walt Lombardo, Owner & Founder of Nevada Mineral & Book Co., located in Orange, Calif.

Southern California is known worldwide for the production of gemstones and mineral specimens from the granite pegmatites in San Diego, Riverside & San Bernardino counties. Some of the more well-known gem minerals are Tourmaline, Garnet, Aquamarine, Morganite, Kunzite, Quartz, Topaz and Lepidolite. Most notable are the Pala and Mesa Grande mining districts, which supplied beautiful tourmalines to the last Dowager Empress of China in the early 1900’s, and continue to produce world-class gems and mineral specimens today. Our program speaker this month is Walt Lombardo, a geologist with over 35 years experience related to mining and mineral exploration. Walt’s talk will include discussion of the regional geology which made these deposits possible, history of mining in Southern California, some of the more important mines, and the gem minerals that they produced.

Meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. If you’d like to join us, write marcia.pls.emails [at] gmail [dot] com to request a Zoom link.

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PLS Explores “The Inner Beauty of Caves” by Mary Pat Weber

Program Meeting, Tuesday, February 15, 2022; 7:00 pm via Zoom.

Photo courtesy of Mary Pat Weber

A cave is more than just a hole in the ground.  These spectacular creations are natural laboratories for preserving fossils, recording past climate, and providing habitats for unique and rare animals.  Due to their global importance physically, culturally, and ecologically, 2021 was designated the International Year of Caves and Karst. As a geologist, Mary Pat finds caves fascinating and takes every opportunity to tour them.  Join us Tuesday night to explore this intriguing subterranean world that includes some of the major show caves of the Western U.S. You can leave your high boots and flashlights at home – this meeting’s virtual!

Meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. If you’d like to join us, write marcia.pls.emails [at] gmail [dot] com to request a Zoom link.

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January 18 Virtual Program Meeting Explores Crystals

Pictured above: Actinolite, Quartz point, Axinite. Can you identify the other four?
Photo credit: PLS member Elizabeth Weston

Our Tuesday, January 18, 2022 Program Meeting will be held via Zoom. PLS member David Lacy will provide the evening’s presentation as an overview of Crystals and Crystal Forms.  We will look at the differences between geometrical (ideal) crystal forms and some of the crystal habits in nature, where geometric forms meet the real world.  We will check on just what are the characteristics of a crystal, what is a crystal habit, symmetry in crystals, and the seven crystal systems met in nature.  Some mineral specimens will be visually shared to demonstrate real-world crystal habits. Meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. If you’d like to join us, write marcia.pls.emails [at] gmail [dot] com to request a Zoom link.

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Tuesday, Nov. 16 Virtual Program Meeting Explores the Chixculub Impact Event with Paolo Sanchez; 7:00 p.m.

Pasadena Lapidary Society’s very own future geologist/geophysicist, Paolo Sanchez, will present “Traces of Extinction: The Search for Rocks and Minerals at Chixculub” for our November program meeting. For those wondering what the heck ‘Chixculub Impact Event’ is, think meteor meets dinosaurs. Paolo will present his current ongoing research examining tektites derived from Chixculub and what their respective chemistries tell us about the minerals and lithologies associated with the impact event, with the potential of understanding the lithology of the meteor itself.

Earlier this year, Paolo was awarded the California Federation of Mineralogical Societies’ (CFMS) Robert O. Deidrich Memorial Fund Scholarship for school year 2020-21. He’s been studying geosciences at UC Berkeley, working his way up to a PhD and possibly obtaining a career as a professional researcher.

There will be no Rock of the Month discussion for this meeting.

The Tuesday, Nov. 16 program meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. via Zoom. To join us, send an email to (new email address!)… marcia.pls.emails[at]gmail.com in advance, using ‘PROGRAM MEETING’ in subject line, and request the Zoom meeting link. We’re looking forward to seeing Paolo – and hope to see you virtually as well!