Kunz in the News, March 2015

Rubies, Blood-Red Beauty 
article by Victoria Gomelsky
New York Times
March 15, 2015

"In “The Curious Lore of Precious Stones,” a 1913 reference book by the famed gemologist George Frederick Kunz, he noted the ancient belief that “an inextinguishable flame burned” inside the stone. “If cast into the water, the ruby communicated its heat to the liquid, causing it to boil,” he wrote."

Jewellery | Tiffany toasts top clients
The Australian Financial Review
March 15, 2015

"The pale pink-violet stone kunzite was named after the company's first gemologist, George Frederick Kunz, who described the gem in 1902."

1919 Article by Dr. Kunz on the Russian Crown Jewels

The Internet Archive has a June 1919 article describing the Crown Jewels of Russia in great detail. The article from Art & Life magazine, was released by JStor to the Internet Archive in an effort to make their public domain materials available broadly.

You can view, download, and print the article in a number of formats at https://archive.org/details/jstor-20543016

Kunz in the News, November 2014

The following represent mentions of Dr. George Frederick Kunz in News articles over the past several months.

Jewellery 101: the gemstones to know about
Vogue Australia-Nov 17, 2014
…mentions Kunzite and its association with Dr. Kunz.

Think pink for truly multitasking gemstone
The Standard (UK) - November 12, 2014
A story about semi-precious stones and specifically the value of Kunzite.

The 50th Anniversary of New York's Most Sensational JewelHeist
Vanity Fair - October 29, 2014
…mentions the role Kunz played in assembling J.P. Morgan’s mineral and gemstone collection, later donated to the American Museum of Natural History.

Inside Tennessee's disappearing pearl industry
Al Jazeera America - June 27, 2014
…quotes Dr. Kunz from 1908 about the fascination man has with pearls.

Newspapers.com materials on Dr. Kunz

The Web site, Newspapers.com, is actively digitizing newspaper content for a subscription fee. AS of November 2014, there were over 12,000 references to Dr. Kunz in their current collection. Some examples include:

• 1921, November 21 (p.30) - The Nebraska State Journals (Lincoln, Nebraska) published a long article on "Japanese Pearls Worrying Owners of Real Ones" where Dr. Kunz is consulted (a portrait of Dr. Kunz accompanies the article as well). 
• 1925, August 16 (p.79) - The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, New York) published a full page article entitled "Dr. George Kunz, Connoisseur of Jewels, Reveals Fascination of Precious Stones" written by Rosalie Espenschied. The article includes a portrait of Dr. Kunz and has been digitized and is available for a fee online from newspapers.com.
• 1930, January 25 (p.1) - The Coshocton Tribune (Ohio) has a three-paragraph story regarding the annulment of Dr. Kunz' marriage to Opal Gilbertson Kunz and the couple's plans to continue living together after their annulment. 
• 1935, September 6 - The Daily Times-News (Burlington, North Carolina) reported that the North Carolina Academy of Natural Sciences added three fine specimens of Kunzite to their collections and explains that the mineral is named after Dr. Kunz.

2014 Jewelry Career Fair to feature rare Kunzite necklace

The Gemological Institute of America is hosting a new exhibit called the "Beauty of Science" that was on display during the Institute's annual open house on October 10, 2014. The exhibit includes a Paloma Picasso-designed necklace featuring a 394 carat Kunzite stone. The necklace is on loan from the Smithsonian Institution for the duration of the exhibit.

News Release: GIA Jewelry fair open to public from the San Diego Union-Tribune

GIA: Information on the "Beauty of Science" Exhibit

Chronology for Russian Crown Jewels photographs in the U.S.

The discovery of a photo album of the Russian Crown Jewels from George Frederick Kunz' personal library in 2012 has generated a number of questions about the chronology of images of the jewels in the United States in the early 1920's. Created below is a chronology of documentation regarding these photographs, as it is currently known:

Images in publications:

• December 20, 1922: DIAMOND CROWNS OF THE LATE CZAR AND CZARINA OF RUSSIA TO BE SOLD BY THE SOVIET GOVERNMENT. The Jewelers' Circular. the Czarina's diamond crown is pictured on the cover and the Imperial Russian crown on page 49. The issue is Volume 85, number 21. Both photos credit "Wide World Photos" as their source.
• December 24, 1922: PRICELESS RUSSIAN CROWN JEWELS NOW IN SOVIET HANDS. St. Louis Post – Dispatch. page B25 (includes pictorial spread)
• December 31, 1922: RUSSIAN'S CROWN JEWELS. San Francisco Chronicle. Includes Pictorial spread featuring images of the Czar and Czarina’s crowns, Orloff scepter, Aquamarine pendant, fan and Catherine’s bouquet pin.

Documentation from the Archives of the American Museum of Natural History

• October 1, 1923. Internal memo from Assistant Director, R.G. Murphy, to Executive Secretary George Sherwood requesting copies of 75 photographic prints of the Russian Crown Jewels. Dr. Murphy states that the photographs are in Dr. Kunz possession as a "confidential trust" and that "no prints must be allowed to get abroad."
• October 2, 1923. Memo from Mr. Sherwood to Dr. Murphy confirming receipt of the request and asking that Dr. Kunz send the photographs directly to Mr. Sherwood.
• October 5, 1923. A typed note in the file quoting a letter from Dr. Kunz to Dr. Murphy, confirming that he would attend to sending the photographs to Mr. Sherwood that day.
• October 5, 1923. A memo, signed by Kunz to Mr. Sherwood, confirming his request for negatives and prints to be made as well as, in the future, lantern slides, possibly colored. Kunz notes that the book is to be shown to no one but the photographer nor is anything to be said about it, "for various reasons." Kunz offers in this message to use the slides for a possible lecture at the museum.
• October 10, 1923. A types memo (unsigned), presumable from Mr. Sherwood, to Dr. Kunz confirming receipt of a letter as well as the book of photographs and confirming that the work would be done but that there was no immediate hurry.
• June 25, 1924. A typed memo (unsigned),presumably from Dr. Murphy (Acting Director) to Dr. Kunz,stating that the production of the negatives were complete and offering to have the Russian captions translated by a Miss Van Feld on their staff.
• October 28, 1924. A typed memo (unsigned), presumably from Dr. Murphy (Acting Director) to Dr. Kunz, returning the book of photographs as well as a set of the prints.
• March 26, 1928. Typed memo (unsigned) from an unnamed Director to Director C. Clyde Fisher, requesting that they ask Miss Van Fliet to look up the photographs which were copied for Dr. Kunz and have a set of prints made and send to him with the compliments of the museum.

That is all that is known at this time. The Associated Press (successors to the Wide World Photos) has been consulted but was unable to provide any information about the photographs they licensed in 1922.

Kunzite specimen, once owned by George F. Kunz sells for $68,500 at Auction

From News-Antique.com - Jun 10,2013 - DALLAS, TEXAS – A 10” tall piece of pink Kunzite, a variety of Spodumene, with provenance to George F. Kunz, Tiffany & Co.’s vice president and chief mineralogist in the early 1900s, realized $68,500 on June 2 at Heritage Auctions’ break-out $3.57+ million Nature & Science event. The pink gem variety of Spodumene was named after Kunz who gave this particular example to his Tiffany co-worker George Wild.

Kunz had rare photos of the Russian Crown Jewels

This week, the U.S. Geological Survey announced the discovery of a rare collection of photographs that had been a part of Mr. Kunz' personal library which is now a part of their collections. The album has a hand-painted frontpiece that is labeled as being from Moscow in 1922. The photographs document the Russian Crown Jewels and many of the images appeared in a 1925 official catalog of the Russian Crown Jewels. The USGS researchers identified 4 pieces of jewelry that are not included in the 1925 catalog and appear to have disappeared from the collection of jewels between their photography in 1922 and the publication of the official catalog in 1925.

The announcement includes a photo gallery as well as a 6:40 minute video podcast hosted on YouTube.

The librarians at the U.S. Geological Survey spent several months researching the album and its contents before making the announcement. They compared every one of the 81 photographs in Mr. Kunz' 1922 album to the published record about the Russian Crown Jewels. They found a record of one of the pieces in a publication from the year 2000 called "Selling Russia's Treasures" but the other 3 pieces have not been documented since this 1922 album.

This discovery supports the presumption that Dr. Kunz was an important figure in the scientific world of mineralogy and gemology.

Kunz credited with creating modern market for colored stones

Gem Select gives Dr. Kunz credit for creating the modern market for colored stones in an extensive post about Kunz and his career. See:

http://www.gemselect.com/other-info/tourmaline-market.php

Tiffany acknowledges Kunz role in cutting famous diamond

A recent notice about a famous diamond on display in Dubai highlights the role that George Frederick Kunz playing in having the diamond cut:

"The rough stone was brought to Paris, where Tiffany’s chief gemmologist, Dr George Frederick Kunz, supervised the cutting of the diamond into a cushion-shape brilliant with an unprecedented 82 facets – 24 more facets than the traditional 58-facet brilliant cut."

G.F. Kunz Bibliography

The expert librarians at the Gemological Institute of America have compiled a bibliography of the works of George Frederick Kunz.

Kunz and the Saturday Evening Post

The following is a list of articles written by Dr. Kunz over a 20 year span from 1908-1928:

• June 13, 1908, The Care of Gems p. 5, 32  (featured on the cover of the magazine)  
• June 27, 1908, The Etiquette of Gems p. 5-6, 29 
• September 26, 1908, Frauds and Deceptions in Precious Stones, Part 1, p. 10-11  
• October 17, 1908, Frauds and Deceptions in Precious Stones, Part 2, p. 18-19, 42-43 
• October 31, 1908, Frauds and Deceptions in Precious Stones, Part 3, p. 18-19, 53 
• November 21, 1908, Gems in Glass, p. 47 
• August 28, 1909, The Meaning of Colors (page number unknown)  
• August 28, 1909, Black Opals, p. 34  
• September 4, 1909, Strange Fortunes of Precious Stones, p. 32-34  
• September 10, 1909, What Colors Typify, p. 50 
• November 26, 1927, American Travels of a Gem Collector, Part 1, p. 6-7, 85-86, 91
• December 10, 1927, American Travels of a Gem Collector, Part 2, p. 22-23, 172-174, 176 
• January 21, 1928, The Gem Collector in Europe, p. 33-34, 36, 38 
• March 10, 1928, Trailing Gems in Europe, p. 44, 46, 188-190, 194 
•  March 31, 1928, Discoveries of a Gem Expert, p. 30, 32, 96, 99-100  
• May 5, 1928, The Indestructible Value, p. 20-21, 153-154, 156, 161

* This list was taken from a photocopied memo from the Editors of the Saturday Evening post dated May 9, 1952. The photocopy was found in the library of the U.S. Geological Survey in Reston, Virginia. The library has a binder containing facsimiles of all of these articles.

Kunz on the Metric System, 1917

National WholesaleGrocers' Association of the United States. Proceedings of the 11th AnnualMeeting. Chicago, 1917. p. 186-188. Address presented on the third day of theirConference, June 22, 1917.

ADDRESS BY DR. GEORGE FREDERICK KUNZ,
President of the American Metric Association.

Appreciating the honor conferred upon me in being asked to present a paper before the members of the National Wholesale Grocers' Association at their Liberty Convention, I deeply regret that circumstances prevent me from being present. Permit me, as president of the American Metric Association, through its Secretary, to extend most cordial greetings and best wishes for the entire success of the Liberty Convention and the future welfare of the National Wholesale Grocers' Association.

Thirty-four nations unite in the testimony that the temporary inconvenience involved in making the change to metric weights and measures is many times repaid by the great advantages secured. There is no longer any question about the superiority of the metric system for accounting, calculations and for general use of all kinds. Let us, therefore, pass on to the practical means by which we can bring about its general use for the permanent welfare of our country.

I shall endeavor to present the essentials of the metric system as concisely as possible for the approval or suggestions of you gentlemen 'who are already advocates of, and in many cases, actually using metric weights and measures.

The following table, containing the most convenient metric units, illustrates the relation between United States currency and the international weights and measures:

Currency

1 dollar, the principal unit=
               1000 mills, or 100 cents.

Length

1 meter, the principal unit=
                                      1000 millimeters, or 100 centimeters.
                  1000 meters= l kilometer.

Capacity

1 liter, the principal unit=
1000 milliliters.
          1000 liters=l kiloliter.

Weight or Mass

1 gram, the principal unit=
1000 milligrams.
              1000 grams= I kilogram.

The legislation which led to the appointment of the International Commission and the subsequent adoption of metric weights and measures was proposed by Talleyrand in 1790. The international unit of length, the meter, was carefully constructed to represent the ten-millionth part of the quadrant of a meridian, or the distance from the equator to the North Pole. A cubic measure one-tenth of a meter on each edge was taken as the fundamental unit of capacity and named the liter. One one-hundredth of a meter, or one centimeter, was used to obtain the unit of weight, or technically of mass. Under certain conditions one cubic centimeter of water weighs one gram. The international metric standards have been constructed with the greatest care and are to-day most serviceable and satisfactory as the standards for the world. 

One notable result of the great demand for supplies of all kinds for the European nations has been the introduction of the metric measurements in a large number of the factories within the United States. This not only refers to guns, rifles, shells, etc., but also to locomotives, rails, parts of bridges, many tools and pieces of machinery, etc. The increased demand for our goods in Europe and South America works in the same direction. For our manufacturers are learning the important lesson that, if we wish to render the most effective service and increase our trade in foreign lands, we must endeavor to conform to the standards and usages current therein. When the war is over other opportunities will present themselves; but we must prepare now to use intelligently the universal language of weights and measures.

A not unimportant step in furtherance of the complete adoption of the metric system has recently been taken in the gem dealers' industry, and although this particular application may appear to many at first sight as being of comparatively slight consequence, its educational effect is more far-reaching than is generally supposed. This concerns the adoption in precious stone commerce of an international metric carat, When we reflect that there are some 36,000 jewelers in the United States, and that because of the popularity of their wares they come into constant contact with a large section of our population, we can realize the good work they are necessarily performing in demonstrating to their customers the usefulness of the metric system, and thus attracting public attention to its signal merits. This is merely typical of the steps of metric progress in other lines, so well brought out in the report of your own Metric System Committee.

Our adhesion to the metric standard should be encouraged when we consider that as early as May 20, 1790, Thomas Jefferson, as Secretary of State, formulated a decimal system of weights and measures, and embodied the scheme in a report. The adoption of the decimal system in our coinage, so ably advocated by Governor Morris in 1782, probably caused Jefferson to favor its extension to weights and measures as well. Therefore, in adopting the metric system we would only be realizing one of the brilliant and inspirational ideas of the most original thinker among the founders of our Republic.

The American Metric Association was organized December 27, 1916, with the hearty co-operation and assistance of members of the National Wholesale Grocers' Association, who we number among our most active members. Mr. Arthur P. Williams has served as treasurer from the beginning. Major Fred R. Drake is a leader among the members of our Executive Committee. The National Wholesale Grocers' Association was the first organization member of the American Metric Association. An office was secured at 156 Fifth Avenue, New York, and through the volunteer efforts of our officers and members, many organizations, firms and individuals of national importance have already joined and in most cases are rendering useful service in furthering the metric cause. All are invited to come, telephone or write for accurate information regarding metric weights and measures.

I believe it entirely feasible to arrange legislation, either by optional use of the two systems of weights and measures for a certain term of years, or by temporary exemption of certain types of machinery manufacture, so that the change can be made with a minimum amount of loss or trouble. I believe that such work is a patriotic duty for all of us to-day.

We have before us the inspiring opportunity of uniting all trades and industries of the United States in the metric movement.

The list of members of the American Metric Association is becoming the roll of those who will achieve the final victory in bringing America's measurements into harmony with the rest of the world. 

As president of the American Metric Association, I wish to express my hearty appreciation for the co-operation and active support of the National Wholesale Grocers' Association of the United States and its many members.