Regular meeting

Scott Sucher

Digging Sapphires at the El Dorado Bar near Helena, Montana

Did you know there are active sapphire mines in the US that produce some of the world’s finest and toughest sapphires? Take a tour of the El Dorado Bar and see how sapphires are commercially mined. Become a geologist and analyze the rock layers in search of the paydirt where the good stuff (and gold!) is hiding. Then become a miner as the rock is extracted, concentrated, and further processed to isolate the fine gem rough that can adorn your finger.

Scott Sucher is a retired Air Force Combat Search and Rescue/Special Operations instructor pilot, and was Chief, Air Operations in Kuwait for Operation Southern Watch He is an acknowledged expert in the history and cutting of famous historical diamonds, having published articles on the French Blue, Tavernier Blue, and Koh-i-Noor diamonds in Gems and Gemology, Review de Gemologie in France, plus a few others.

Scott was the featured expert gem cutter in the Discovery Channel documentary “Unsolved History: The Hope Diamond” that first aired in March 2005 and the 2010 National Geographic program “Secrets of the Hope Diamond” with significant on-air time in both programs. As a result of the Discovery Channel filming, he was privileged to be alone in the Smithsonian vault with the unset Hope diamond, the Blue Heart diamond, and Napoleon’s Necklace.

He has had several international displays, and has co-displayed for the past several years with the GIA at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show. He has also guided projects with the National History Museum, London and the Museum national D’Historie naturelle in Paris. He was the keynote speaker for GIA’s 2011 John Sinkankas Diamond Symposium. His work is on permanent exhibit in many museums and can be found in reference books published by JTV, Yale University, and several others.