What it is

The Bozeman Gem and Mineral Club (BGMC) is a first-party gem, mineral and lapidary membership club in the Gallatin Valley of southwest Montana. Its home page says it was organized in 1939 and is the oldest “rock club” in Montana. Members’ interests listed there include fossils, mineral specimens, faceting, jewelry design, gemology, geology and lapidary arts. The club has a Club Workshop for lapidary work at 856 Glider Lane C5 in Belgrade. The site says the club bought that building after it went up for sale in summer 2021. Monthly meetings moved to the Belgrade Senior Center in June 2022 because the workshop was getting crowded. BGMC also runs field trips, keeps two quartz mining claims, puts on an annual show and maintains public mineral displays. It is a member of the Montana Council of Rock Mineral Clubs (as printed on the site), the Northwest Federation of Mineralogical Societies (NFMS) and the American Federation of Mineralogical Societies (AFMS). It is not a commercial rock shop and not a public art school.

Who it’s for

Rockhounds, cabochon cutters, faceters, jewelry makers and families in Bozeman, Belgrade and the Gallatin Valley who want a low-dues club with a lapidary workshop, monthly programs, member field trips to Montana collecting sites and club claims, and a spring show. The site says memberships are open to anyone interested, including beginners who “start out knowing only two kinds of rocks: pretty ones and ugly ones”.

Why it’s listed

This is a first-party lapidary club with a printed meeting address, a club-owned workshop address, published annual dues, a dated 2026 meeting calendar, a 2026 membership form and named 2026 officers. It is not a scraped directory card and not a rock-shop storefront.

Meetings (home page sidebar and Calendar 2026, checked 2026-10-07): 7:00 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month at the Belgrade Senior Center, 93 East Cameron Ave., Belgrade, MT, unless noted otherwise. The alternate location is the Club Workshop, 856 Glider Lane C5, Belgrade, MT. Remaining 2026 dates: October 20 and November 17. The December Christmas party (Bozeman Senior Center, 4:30 p.m.) was listed with the date TBD.
Dues (Membership section and 2026 Membership and Waiver Form, checked today): $20.00 per adult (Single) and $30.00 per family a year. Dues are due between November and the end of January for the new year. They include membership in the Montana Council, NFMS and AFMS, plus subscriptions to A Stone’s Throw (the club’s monthly newsletter), The Montana Council Reporter and The Northwest Newsletter. The form includes a waiver that allows participation in club field trips.
Lapidary workshop (home page and membership form, checked today): the club owns its workshop building at 856 Glider Lane C5, Belgrade. The membership form’s volunteer list includes “workshop and equipment maintenance” and “lapidary equipment instruction”. Workshop open hours, shop fees and the equipment list are not stated on site.
2026 field trips (Calendar 2026, checked today): trips listed from May 23 through a multi-day October 8–12 trip to the Delta, Utah area (obsidian, topaz, Dugway geodes, trilobites). Earlier 2026 trips included Bald Mountain, Sweetwater Basin, a June 25–28 NFMS trip to Teepee Canyon, South Dakota, the club’s quartz claims, Crystal Park and the Pryor Mountains for Bear Canyon agate.
Annual show (home page and Calendar 2026, checked today): the club hosts a late-spring show at the Gallatin County Fairgrounds. The 2026 show was May 9–10 at the Gallatin County Fair Grounds, 901 N. Black. The site says admission is usually charged to non-members; an amount is not stated on site.

These dues, dates and addresses are what the official site showed on the check date, and they can change. Confirm on the live site or the current membership form before treating any figure as fixed.

Official URL

Last checked: 2026-10-07

https://www.bozemangemandmineralclub.com/

2026 Membership and Waiver Form (PDF): https://www.bozemangemandmineralclub.com/index_279_2604746827.pdf

The site is a single page. Calendar, Membership, Contacts and FAQ open as sections of the same URL.

Location

Meetings (home page, checked 2026-10-07): Belgrade Senior Center, 93 East Cameron Ave., Belgrade, MT, near the corner of East Cameron and Broadway, just off Dry Creek Road. Club Workshop: 856 Glider Lane C5, Belgrade, MT. Mailing address: Bozeman Gem and Mineral Club, P.O. Box 11001, Bozeman, MT 59719-1001. Email: [email protected]. Phone: a general club phone is not stated on site (the NFMS delegate’s number is listed for that role only).

The Glider Lane address is a member club lapidary workshop. It is not a walk-in lapidary supply store or a public art-school campus open without membership.

Notes

Category is Clubs. BGMC is a membership society with monthly meetings, a club workshop, field trips and an annual show. It stays in Clubs rather than Workshops or Suppliers.
The listing uses Bozeman as the city because that is the club’s name and mailing address. Meetings and the workshop are in neighboring Belgrade, Montana.
The $20 / $30 dues, the third-Tuesday cadence and the October 20 / November 17 meeting dates are copied from official pages checked on 2026-10-07 and may change. March 2026 was a Wednesday exception.
The Delta, Utah field trip (October 8–12, 2026) overlaps the check date. Trip details go out to members by email.
The site’s newsletter archive is out of date: the newest newsletter posted is January 2014. The FAQ also carries older Utah collecting notes. The 2026 calendar, 2026 officers and 2026 membership form show the club is current.
The home page links a GoFundMe campaign to help cover workshop building costs. That third-party page is not cited here.
The club’s quartz claim #1 is open only to active club members. Directions come from the listed contact, per the FAQ.
The first-party BGMC header logo (“The Bozeman Gem & Mineral Club, Est. 1939”) is saved as bozeman-gem-and-mineral-club.png. It came from the club site (/images/headerbg.png) and was PNG-recompressed only.
Not affiliated with Lapidary Plaza.
No Lapidary Plaza contact, purchase, booking, or publication action was taken.

FAQ

Q: What does BGMC membership cost?
A: The Membership section and the 2026 Membership and Waiver Form (checked 2026-10-07) list $20.00 a year per adult and $30.00 a year per family. Dues are due between November and the end of January for the new year. See https://www.bozemangemandmineralclub.com/index_279_2604746827.pdf

Q: When and where does the club meet?
A: At 7:00 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month at the Belgrade Senior Center, 93 East Cameron Ave., Belgrade, MT, unless noted otherwise. Remaining 2026 meetings are October 20 and November 17 (Calendar 2026, checked 2026-10-07).

Q: Does the club have a lapidary workshop?
A: Yes. The club owns a workshop building at 856 Glider Lane C5, Belgrade, MT, bought after it went up for sale in 2021. Workshop hours, fees and equipment are not stated on site. Ask the club at [email protected].

Q: Does the club run field trips and a show?
A: Yes. The 2026 calendar lists monthly field trips from May through an October 8–12 trip to the Delta, Utah area. The annual show is in late spring at the Gallatin County Fairgrounds; the 2026 show was May 9–10.

Q: Is BGMC a lapidary school or a rock shop?
A: Neither as listed here. BGMC is under Clubs. It is a membership society with a club workshop, meetings, field trips and an annual show. For public-enrollment classes, see Workshops. For equipment and rough, see Suppliers.