About me

Tehmina Goskar a short woman with short curly hair sitting on a granite rock in the middle of purple and green heathland. She is wearing a blue and white striped summer dress.

Hello, my name is Tehmina Goskar and I am a museum curator, material culture and collections specialist with a thirst for object-based research and an intense interest in historical and modern materials, construction, design and perception. I have worked in the museum world for over 20 years and I am currently a Research Fellow at UAL: University of the Arts London and Research Curator at the Museum of Cornish Life in Helston, Cornwall. 

Following my PhD (2009, University of Southampton) in the material culture of early medieval Southern Italy and the Mediterranean, I undertook a series of cross-disciplinary studies on jewellery, textiles, dress, ecclesiastical treasuries and household objects. During this period I developed high-level analytical, appraisal and provenance skills in historical metals, gems and jewellery which I maintain today. 

This was complemented by my personal interest in minerals and mineralogy and I have a small and wide-ranging collection, including a wide range of gem specimens. Feeling like I needed a new challenge, I enrolled as a distance learning student for the Gemmological Association of Britain’s (Gem-A) Foundation in Gemmology course in 2021. I passed my exams in the summer of 2022 with flying colours and I will soon rejoin to complete my Diploma.

I am re-launching this blog to focus on my gemmological research and studies. My curatorial and heritage archive will still be available to reference and those interested in my current museum work can read my work on curatorialresearch.com.

In my spare time I play traditional music on the fiddle.

Read my publications on my Academia.edu page and follow me on LinkedIn.

In this scene I examine a finger ring, reusing a late Roman agate seal, from southern Italy, late 7th century in the Museo Nazionale Archeologico di Napoli. In the next scene, the custodian of the stores tried it on and asked if it suited her (not pictured).
Examining a finger ring, reusing a late Roman agate intaglio, from southern Italy, late 7th century in the Museo Nazionale Archeologico di Napoli.