Museum Has No New Leads In Gem Theft

Hope has been nearly abandoned for the recovery of $50,000 worth of uncut gems stolen from the Mineralogical Museum in July 1962. Further security measures will soon be installed at the museum, however, to protect the rest of Harvard's collection.

Clifford Frondel, professor of Mineralogy and director of the museum, said yesterday that there have been no new leads in the case. he has "virtually" forgotten the possibility of recovering the 50 stones--among them one of the world's largest diamond crystals--which were removed from smashed display cases early in the morning of July 5, 1962.

Frondel announced the purchase of three new massive steel display safes that will be installed this month or in early November. He said that they should provide, at a cost of $10,000, the "definitive solution to the problem of jewel thefts here."

Detection System Installed

Since the 1962 theft, which occured despite the museum's watchmen, locked doors, and older display safes, Harvard has installed a radar detection system in the building and has kept much of the gem collection in a storage safe.

While entering the Mineralogical Museum, smashing cases with sledgehammers and taking the gems, the thieves left two clear fingerprint specimens. The Federal Bureau of Investigation concluded that any of 17,000 people could have been involved in the crime. There were no other significant clues.

Aside from the large uncut diamond, termed "the center-piece of the collection" and "the largest and most perfect diamond crystal of its size in the world," the gems taken in 1962 proved to be replaceable on the open market. The theft made only a small dent in the Harvard mineralogical collection.