Metal & Stone

At the age of 10, Chester Beatty is said to have outbid others at a public auction to secure a piece of pink calcite for his growing mineral collection. This childhood interest is credited with guiding Beatty towards his profession as a mining specialist, but it also remained important to him as a collector. Today, a dazzling array of precious and semi-precious stones can be found within Beatty’s vast Chinese snuff bottle collection. Lustrous metals and gems also grace the covers of books, in particular the so-called treasure bindings.