American Opal Society Welcomes Meg Berry

by Robyn Hawk on May 16, 2011

The other night I was lucky enough to be able to catch Meg Berry as she addressed the American Opal Society in Orange County, CA.

“Meg Berry has been a lapidary artist working in the gem and jewelry industry since 1974 and has earned over a dozen AGTA Cutting Edge Awards.   In 1992, the late treasure hunter, Mel Fisher, commissioned Meg to facet the largest of the rough emerald crystals recovered from the Spanish galleon “Atocha,” which sank in 1622 in the Florida straits.  Since then, Meg has cut more than one hundred of these “old mine” emerald crystals.  During the construction of the GIA campus in Carlsbad, California, the late Vince Manson commissioned Meg to cut and polish the concept pieces of rocks and slabs placed as name plates outside each door.
Meg currently produces one-of-a-kind extraordinary gemstone creations using a combination of techniques that may include faceting, carving, frosting and piercing—sometimes all on the same stone!  Her work is thematic, designed to elicit an emotional response and an appreciation for the beauty of Nature.”

Meg was fresh off the experience of meeting and speaking for Industry professionals at the 9th Annual Sinkankis Symposium.  The topic this year was Diamonds and for a taste of what the day included you can see the list of professional white papers from the program at: http://www.sinkankassymposium.net/


Recognized specialists in fields ranging from geology and mineralogy to history, treatment, cutting, collecting and selling will wrote presentations on Diamond.  This year there were so many submissions that the program is in two volumes.  Some of the abstracts are available online – a full program can be purchased at: http://www.sinkankassymposium.net/order-pubs/

OK – back to the Opal Society Meeting…Meg was originally booked to do a talk on “Cutting Phenomenal Gems”  – but as usually happens in a room of like minded enthusiasts, she talked on “Cutting the Atocha Emeralds” – what an interesting presentation…and then went on to cover a fabulous talk on “Beryls”












One of the HUGE Aquamarines that she had discussed during her presentation was in the set of fabulous gems she brought for Show & Tell!



Meg stayed until way into the night talking gem cutting and carving.









Do you know where your local Gem or Mineral Club meets?  Do you know who they have coming to speak?  If they do special “Silent Auction” nights (AOS Silent Auction is at their June meeting)?  Or when their Annual Gem Show is?   


What are you waiting for…find out!



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