ARTWORK Courtesy MOTHER NATURE

ARTWORK Courtesy

MOTHER NATURE

R

ight off the Plaza is a little trove of treasures featuring many of Mother Nature’s greatest feats.

Touchstone Gallery beckons you to peruse and add to your knowledge of fossil and mineral specimens. You will be filled with the same wonder you felt as a child at a natural history museum exhibit, only now you can own the pieces.

“Touchstone Gallery has been around for about 35 years,” explains owner Joe Wilhelm. “My wife and I bought the business almost six years ago from the couple who started it. Before we bought the business, I was a corporate finance guy. There comes a time when you have enough gray hair and money that you decide to do what you want to do. From

tourist visits, we knew we wanted to be around Santa Fe, and this business struck a chord with me.”

Originally called Mineral & Fossil Gallery, the business was renamed to Touchstone Gallery for three reasons. First, the name evokes the natural origin of the products.

Second, in medieval times, a touchstone

ABOVE PHOTO, NEXT PAGE TOP AND MIDDLE PHOTO BY Carolyn Wright

was a special stone that indicated to merchants whether or not the gold a customer was using was real. In renaming the business Touchstone Gallery, it signifies to customers all products are authentic and natural. Third, customers and visitors are encouraged to touch the stones and other specimens, as each is rich with unique textures.

Touchstone’s inventory can be divided into four categories: contemporary jewelry, fossils, mineral specimens and décor pieces. “Every piece has a story.

Most of our pieces are one-of-a-kind or very limited,” notes Wilhelm. “We have 187 passionate, almost foolish people we work with who devote their entire lives to their own niche. They spend about 50 percent of their time getting dirty and digging rocks, 40 percent cleaning them up so they look pretty, and 10 percent finding folks like me to buy and display them for a retail customer. They work very hard to extract their specimen. It takes tremendous amounts of energy and work, and they move a lot of rock to find one good specimen. It also requires a lot of skill and attention to detail to mold a raw piece of stone into a fashionable and attractive item we would suggest you consider in your home décor or jewelry box.”

He continues, “We sell intriguing conversation pieces you will want to enjoy in your home. Each item has a spellbinding story of how Mother Nature devised it. You can share the riveting story with your guests over a glass of Chardonnay while they marvel at the striking beauty and mysteries of the Earth. Our jewelry is designed as statement pieces people will always notice when you wear it. Expect to be stopped and asked about what the stones are, who designed it and where it came from. These singularly unique pieces are designed to compliment your personality.”

Whether to browse or buy, Touchstone Gallery’s astonishing collection of earthmade goodies is well worth a visit.

Touchstone Gallery 127 W San Francisco St. 505.984.1682 santafe@touchstonegalleries.com TouchstoneGalleries.com TOP PHOTO Joe Wilhelm, owner; BOTTOM PHOTO BY Wendy McEahern