George F. Kunz - the Father of Modern Precious Stones

"Given a fresh excavation today, I am just as apt to go down on my knees and begin grubbing about as I was at the age of ten."

Along with his propensity for 'grubbing about' went his tremendous intellect, which he started training early and never let school get in the way of. George Frederick Kunz could not only locate and identify his mineral specimens at the age of 10, he knew their scientific names.

From Minerals to Gems

"I first became conscious of this strange passion one day when, aged ten, I dropped into Barnum's Museum on Ann Street and Broadway, opposite the old Astor Hotel, just a few weeks before it burned down. The collection of minerals formed by Mr. Bailey was on exhibition and I hung, suffocated with pleasure, over the cases.

Since then my eyes have looked upon more wealth in gems, I suppose, than any other living eyes, yet nothing has ever seemed to me more thrillingly beautiful than those not-even-precious stones in old Barnum's Museum."

This visual epiphany experienced by the young George Kunz coincided with the national healing that began at the end of the Civil War. As he gathered minerals over the years his knowledge and experience grew, G.F.Kunz knew that to reach his goal he must sell the 2 tons of mineral specimens that constituted his collection.

"It now became my great and consuming ambition to sell this collection, not so much for the money it might bring but to mark myself in the eyes of the world as a real collector."

Traditional Gemstones

George Kunz had a breakthrough idea at that point (1875) that turned the jewelry fashion industry upside-down, the retail jewelry manufacturing and the world of jewelry marketing inside-out and has given to jewellery wearers around the globe a new panorama of precious gems as well as a revivified jewelry designing industry.

"At that time the jewelry profession was strictly confined to precious stones, of which there are but four - the diamond, ruby, emerald and sapphire - and not a stone but none the less precious - the pearl. These were, as a matter of fact, the only gems that were really seriously considered, although cameos had a certain less solemn vogue, as also the onyx and bloodstone."

Jewelry gift ideas were never far from the mind of George Kunz even before he started his 50-some years with the Tiffany Co. and is why he was hired by them in the first place. Learn more about the curious lore of precious stones at www.jewelrybirthstoneswizard.com

Redefining Precious Stones

"Now in my mineralogical investigations I had from time to time come across many beautiful minerals that had all the qualities of gems, being of great hardness, tenacity, brilliancy, transparency, purity and exquisite coloring. Cut and polished, many of these stones rivaled in beauty the precious stones. They were indeed, in every acceptance of the term, gems, even though denied the epithet 'precious'."

G. F. Kunz had left the cut and dried arena of the science of mineralogy and was now venturing into the realm of esthetics, personal taste and fashion. Since these were gems and precious stones then ultimately this revolutionary idea of his would open up the world of jewelry gift ideas to a new spectrum of colors and styles that still reflect the influence of Dr. Kunz more than a century later.

"So one day, buckled in youth, I wrapped a Tourmaline in a bit of gem paper, swung on a horse car, and all the way to my destination rehearsed my arguments. Arrived there, I was finally received by the managing head of what was even then the largest jewelry establishment in the world, and showed him my drop of green light.

I explained - a very little; the gem itself was its own best argument. Tiffany bought it - the great dealers in precious stones bought their first Tourmaline from me."

G.F. Kunz - Mineralogist to Gem Expert

Soon after, Tiffany hired George Kunz to be their first 'gem expert' and in a career of developing jewelry gift ideas with them that spanned more than half a century he eventually became Vice President of the company. This was not the least or only lofty position, award, degree or title held by this accomplished person but his most cherished memory was of selling his first mineral collection:

"When I finally received an offer from the University of Minnesota, I was smothered in pride. Not, I think, when I received the honors of Officier de la Légion d'Honneur, of a Knight of the Order of St. Olaf, or Officer of the Order of the Rising Sun of Japan, did I experience the same thrill as on that day that officially placed me among recognized mineralogists."

Dr. George F. Kunz was a prolific author, writing hundreds of scholarly and popular articles as well as a multitude of lengthy and thoroughly researched books on geology, mineralogy and most particularly on precious stones.

He was fascinated by, studied and documented gems that rose from origins deep amid the heat and pressure of the center of the Earth, to the gemstones (peridot) found in meteorites, the origins of these visitors from space can only be speculated at.

Dr. George Kunz - Author & Correspondent

George F. Kunz carried on a tremendous correspondence with his contacts throughout the world. This included everyone from the most local gem connection to presidents and royalty as well as the rich and famous.

"At the age of fourteen I started sending specimens abroad for exchange, and had already begun that unending stream of correspondence on mineralogy which now inundates the vaults of several museums, the cellars and several of the rooms of my home, my private offices, and heaven knows what out-lying territories.

It all seems to me very interesting and important, though I suppose its custodians would gladly see it heaped in a pyre on the Mall of Central Park, its flames licking the sky."

As it turns out, the United States Geological Survey (Dr. Kunz was an employee and guiding light there as well as the many other organizations that he founded, administered and contributed to), purchased most of the geological and mineralogical papers G. F. Kunz produced during his 75 years.

George F. Kunz - A Public Legacy

There are many museum gem and mineral collections that have received the benefit of the ability Dr. Kunz displayed in acquiring the most superb examples of each type.

"A mineralogist collects everything that Nature produces, and those things with the least commercial value often have the greatest value in his eyes."

Even though private collectors usually paid for his services their accumulation of the finest and rarest precious stones were eventually donated to institutions that could protect and display them for the benefit of the public.

The quotes by Dr. Kunz were published in the Saturday Evening Post in a series of articles that ran in 1927-28.