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. I am currently training to become an accredited jewellery appraiser and valuer.
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 Distinction. In July 2024 I was awarded the Jewellery Valuers Association Alan Hodgkinson Educational Bursary and in December 2024 I won a 2025 Fall GIA scholarship award which will support my diamonds and diamond grading training in 2025.
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.
