THE MORGAN COLLECTION OF PRECIOUS 



STONES 



By George Frederick Kunz 



OF all the many and munificent gifts with which our great and lamented 

 fellow citizen, John Pierpont Morgan, enriched the collections of 

 our museums, none has afforded more instruction to a large 

 number of visitors or is more highly appreciated and better known than 

 the wonderful Morgan gem collection exhibited on the upper floor of the 

 southern wing of the American Museum of Natural History, on the 

 Seventy-seventh Street side. 



We can truly say also that none of Mr. Morgan's gifts gave him more 

 pleasure, and his interest in the collection was as keen the last time I spoke 

 to him as it had been at the outset. That one so familiar with the best in 

 all branches of art should be a lover of beauty of form and color goes without 

 saying, and we may add that his thorough appreciation and understanding 

 of the finest examples made him a severe critic in such matters, rendering 

 him intolerant of everything mediocre, commonplace or uninteresting. 

 And he possessed withal a wonderfully retentive memory of what he knew 

 was in the collection or of what he had seen, which only enhanced his admira- 

 tion of what was exceptionally fine. 



Until 1882 scarcely any attention was paid to precious stones in the 

 United States. A few years before that date I had seriously taken up the 

 subject of studying and collecting gems, and had prevailed upon Messrs. 

 Tiffany and Company to preserve the best examples that presented them- 

 selves to form the collection which was exhibited in a circular pavilion at 

 the Paris Exposition of 1889, in the center of the American section. 



At the solicitation of the late Morris K. Jesup, president of the American 

 Museum of Natural History, Mr. Morgan presented this entire collection to 

 the Museum. The specimens were displayed in two long cases on the upper 

 floor, and some five years later the fact that the tile pavement on both sides 

 had been worn to a considerable depth along the line where the cases stood, 

 gave testimony to the interest excited in the general public. 



The success of the first collection led me to believe that a collection of 

 precious stones of other than American origin would be worthy of a greater 

 national exhibition, and a consultation was held with Mr. Morgan. As a 

 result a new collection was made and proved to be larger than had origi- 

 nally been anticipated. It was purchased on condition that it should be 

 shown at the Paris Exposition of 1900 where it received a Grand Prize and 

 occupied a most important position in the Department of Mines. 



This latter collection was the result of a trip throughout Europe, Asiatic 

 Russia, the United States and Mexico. The finest examples were obtained 

 by purchase frequently, sometimes however only through exchange with 



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