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.