Miner's Gems and Minerals
OLD TOWN SAN DIEGO STATE HISTORIC PARK
2616 San Diego Avenue, San Diego, California, 92110
619-688-1178
OUR STORE HOURS ARE 10 -6 EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK.
WE EXTEND OUR HOURS DURING THE SUMMER.
WE ARE CLOSED CHRISTMAS AND THANKSGIVING.
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Miner’s Gems is eagerly waiting to assist you in all your geological inquiries. Miners Gems and Minerals is celebrating 41 years of excellence in historic retail. We are a 3rd generation family owned and operated rock and fossil emporium that was established in 1978 in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park. Renowned as the premiere gem and mineral store in southern California, with a staff highly trained in gemology, mineralogy and paleontology.
The mission of Miner’s Gems & Minerals is to provide a venue where visitors can acquire terrestrial treasures found both locally and of worldwide origin. Equally important is our goal to educate visitors about all aspects of Earth science, including such topics as geology, mineralogy, gemology, paleontology, lapidary arts, and mining practices. We excel at educating visitors on the great exploration of our region, the famed California Gold Rush, the lesser known San Diego Gold Rush and the fabled tourmaline deposits of our county. We strive to be a resource where local teachers and parents can seek assistance with their Earth science and geology educational programs. A further aspect of our mission is to enrich the San Diego community by offering educational outreach programs at little or no cost to groups such as local schools, scouts, and gem and mineral clubs. In all, we aspire to be a venue where visitors can tangibly see the correlation between Earth science, the great exploration of the western coast and the history of San Diego and all of California. It has been the mission of Miner’s Gems for the last thirty-four years to be the most pre-eminent mineral enterprise in the state of California and the most dedicated purveyor of our state’s rich and romantic history. |
Welcome to Miner’s Gems and Minerals Website! We have gemstones and minerals from San Diego and from worldwide locations! Here is a brief list of our selection:
San Diego Tourmaline from the Himalaya Mine and the Stewart Mine.
Other San Diego gems such as Kunzite, Lepidolite and Black Jade.
Gems and minerals from other California and Western U.S. locations including:
CELEBRATED DEALER OF EARTHLY TREASURES
Here at Miners Gem's we have exciting & informative educational programs for children and adults. We offer activities such as mineral panning and presentation for groups.
Mineral panning is a historic and informative "hands on" activity (especially for school groups). When gold was discovered in 1848 at Sutters Mill by John Marshall, people flocked from all over the world to the unknown frontier of Alta California which was at that time a largely unpopulated territory of Mexico. With picks and pans they scoured the hills of northern California in search of gold and changed the history of the "Golden State" forever.
Now it's your opportunity to become a miner 49er. The "mineral pans" are $10.00 per pan and are filled with"tailings" from the Stewart Tourmaline Mine in Rainbow, California and we "salt" them well! Washing out your pan will reveal pyrite (fools gold), quartz crystals, agate, jasper, and... whatever else we decide to throw in! This is an experience you wont want to miss and is great for kids and adults. Groups larger than 6 must reserve at least two weeks in advance, earliest reservations for groups take priority. Except for the group that is booked, this activity is closed on the days and/or times of group bookings. PLEASE NOTE: Group presentations are ONLY done on Wednesday and Thursday mornings, there are ABSOLUTELY NO exceptions to this rule! Please do not ask us to do it on other days. Certain times of the year are subject to blackout. Call for operating hours and RSVP. |
PANNING Every Day 10 to 4
We are still doing panning, it is on a modified approach due to covid. Required spacing between washing stations and water is cleaned regularly. We have less space available so you may have to be patient, but as always it will be worth the wait. We will not be able to do large school groups for the near future. We look forward to being able to do Birthday groups again. Just not right now. M 
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