Butterfly Meadow

“I have wings but I'm not a bird. I'm small and colorful” the kid riddle says, and we would add “

When made of precious gems I'm very enticing for collectors regardless my high price tag”. Yes, this is a butterfly but as you can guess not a usual one and not even a single one!

There is an exhibition of a large collection of butterfly brooches on display in the Gem and Mineral Hall at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. Precious 'species' will remain there till April 2013 so it makes easy to plan your visit in the museum once you are in LA. What you will see there is 16 butterflies made from 18K gold and covered with colored gemstones ranging from opal to diamonds.

Unique brooches were created by Buzz and Bernadine. Don't be surprised if these names are unknown to you, because a talented gem cutter and a skillful jewelry designer decided not to uncover their full names. Instead they tried to draw maximum attention to their cherished creations rather than personalities.

Each butterfly 'wears' unique gems sparingly collected by the owners through more than thirty years and is named after the gems it is covered with. There is the Opal Butterfly featuring the opals from Virgin Valley, Nevada; there is the Benitoite Butterfly beautified with 34.67 carats of amazing blue gemstones which are known as the California state gem. However, as far as we are more interested in diamonds than in any other gems that is why the exhibit that caught our attention is the Hiddenite Butterfly. The body is made of green oval-shaped hiddenite that is known as the largest ever faceted and covered with lots of colorless diamonds. With red beryl eyes and tourmaline elements this brooch would be a perfect accessory for any lady of fashion for any occasion. But it won't as far as Buzz & Bernadine made it rather for contemplating than for wearing. So let's simply enjoy this beauty.