Gaumer's Jewelry and Museum, Red Bluff CA

Category & Type :

Museums

Location :

78 Belle Mill Road , Red Bluff CA

Phone :

530-527-6166

Website :

http://www.gaumers.com/

Information about Gaumer's Jewelry and Museum...

The Gaumer family interest in gems and minerals has been actively pursued for four generations as John O. Gaumer was a gold miner in Northern California for 25 years. His son Al continued the tradition with formal education in the field of mining engineering before returning to gold mining with his father and a lifelong pursuit of prospecting and rockhounding throughout the western United States.

The family passion for rocks turned a hobby into a full time business when John and Terry decided to open a store utilizing the families extensive rock collection and John's jewelry making skills. This combination served Tehama County until 1993, when Bill came on board and really shook things up. Four years later, the business remodeled, adding an 800 square foot mineral and mining museum and additional retail and manufacturing space.

In 1999, Bill finished his course work with the Gemological Institute of America and received the prestigious Graduate Gemologist diploma. In 1999, Sharla Gibson joined the business.  Today she is our office and sales manager.  Jim Wade joined our bench department and brings a wealth of talent.  He grew up in a familiy silversmithing business in Reno and added to his skills through the GIA's bench jeweler program.   Our sales staff consists of two full time employees:  Jill Russell and Melanie Zelwick.   On special occasions we are also happy to have the assistance of Tonya Robinson and Maxine Mapes.  Maxine has worked with us for many years and is still our principal pearl stringer.

Gaumer's Mineral and Mining Museum features fifty years and four generations of collecting. Beautiful, rare gem and minerals specimens from around the world , stone carvings, fossils, Native American artifacts, a fluorescent mineral display, and a detailed replica of an old mine tunnel complete with ore car, tracks and mining equipment. The free museum is open to the public during normal business hours; group tours are available for schools and special interest groups.

Bill Gaumer carries on the family tradition of sharing the amazing world of rocks, minerals, fossils, and gems with Gaumer's visitors.  Growing up the in family business with brother, Scott, and sister Kate, Bill learned the ropes of jewelry sales, gem cutting, and rock hounding.  The kids learned to cut cabochons from grandfather, Al Gaumer, and spent their younger years helping many customers find the perfect gift during the holidays.  Many hours were spent learning the origin and history of the the various gemstones.  Busy schedules slowed the collecting trips down but the family did make trips to collect thundereggs, obsidian, idocrase, petrified wood, plume agates, rare jaspers, and beautiful agates.  From the high desert of eastern Oregon to the petrified forest in Arizona, the collecting trips continued.  While traveling in the Himalayas, Bill finally made the decision to return to Red Bluff and carry on the business.  Within three years, Gaumer's had begun its next transformation.  The addition of an 800 square foot museum, new retail space, and 1000 feet of shop space launched the business into its next phase.  During this busy time, Bill completed his Graduate Gemologist program with the Gemological Institute of America in Carlsbad, California.  Apprenticing under his dad, John Gaumer, he was able to improve his skill at soldering, metal fabrication, wax carving and casting, and jewelry repair.  The next exciting decade was spent improving the museum collection, adding to the inventory of fine quality gems and minerals, learning new jewelry skills, and dragging his kids off in the quest for more gems, fossils and the nearest trade show.  

John Gaumer began a lifelong pursuit of gems and minerals with the purchase of a specimen of iron pyrite and quartz when he was five years old.  This first piece became one of many in an ever growing collection of gems and minerals.  He grew up around his grandfather who mined gold in Butte County, N. California.  This underground placer mining operation introduced John to gold mining and encouraged his collecting.  His father, Al Gaumer traveled to Colorado to study mining engineering as a young man but lost his finances due to the failure of the bank in Chico due to the Great Depression.  After returning to Butte County, California, he worked for a time with his father in the New Era Mine and shared the love of rocks and mining with his growing family.  With the mining background, including the use of dynamite, the Gaumer family - Al and Mabel and their three sons, Tom, John, and Jim started in on some serious rock-hounding.  This fascination took the family on countless expeditions in the western United States to collect from many of the notable rock locations of the day.  Favorite digs included Morrisonite in the Owyhee Canyon and Bruneau  Canyon Japser in Idaho.  Oregon plume agates from the Priday Ranch, Carey Ranch, and Eagle Rock were collected in the areas to the east of Bend, Oregon.