Kunzite is named for George Frederick Kunz (1856–1932), the American gemologist, vice-president and chief gem buyer of Tiffany & Co., and one of the most influential figures in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century gem trade. The naming was proposed in 1903 by Charles Baskerville of the University of North Carolina (later of the College of the City of New York), who together with John Henry Pratt examined material from California and recognised it as a distinct gem variety of spodumene.

The discovery

Material later named kunzite was first recovered in commercial quantity from the lithium pegmatites of the Pala district of San Diego County, California, in 1902. The principal early producers were the Pala Chief and Stewart Lithia mines, where pink to violet spodumene was found in association with lepidolite, tourmaline, beryl and other pegmatite gem minerals. The first specimens reached Kunz at Tiffany & Co. in late 1902, and he immediately recognised them as something distinct from previously described spodumene varieties.

Baskerville and Pratt published their analytical study in the American Journal of Science in 1903, naming the new variety kunzite in Kunz's honour. The naming followed established mineralogical convention of recognising the gemologist or mineralogist most associated with the introduction of a new material. Kunzite was the second variety of spodumene to receive a varietal name, after hiddenite (chromium-coloured green spodumene from North Carolina, named for William Earl Hidden).

George Frederick Kunz

Kunz was born in New York City and joined Tiffany & Co. in 1879 at the age of twenty-three, becoming the firm's chief gemologist within a few years. He served Tiffany for more than fifty years, retiring in 1932 only weeks before his death. Beyond Tiffany, he was honorary curator of mineralogy at the American Museum of Natural History, advised the Smithsonian Institution, and was a founding figure in the American Gem Society. He played a central role in introducing morganite (pink beryl, named in 1910 for J. P. Morgan), in popularising the use of Montana sapphires in American jewellery, and in standardising the modern birthstone list adopted by the American National Association of Jewelers in 1912.

Kunz was also the author of two extensive folkloric works, The Curious Lore of Precious Stones (1913) and The Magic of Jewels and Charms (1915), which remain in continuous reprint and are foundational texts in the popular literature of gemstone folklore.

Cultural significance of the naming

The naming of kunzite for Kunz was widely reported in trade and popular press at the time and contributed to his reputation as the premier American gem authority of his generation. The choice of pink-to-violet spodumene as the material to receive his name proved fortunate: the variety has remained commercially significant through the twentieth century and into the present, with major production from California, Brazil, Afghanistan and Pakistan keeping the name in continuous trade currency.

Subsequent honours

Beyond kunzite itself, two minerals are also named in Kunz's honour: kunzitite (a varietal term sometimes used loosely for kunzite-bearing pegmatite) and a small number of mineralogical varieties named in honour of his career. The Smithsonian's National Gem Collection contains the Morgan-Tiffany Collection of American gemstones, assembled under Kunz's direction. The American Museum of Natural History holds substantial archives of his correspondence and field notes.

Significance for the trade

For the working trade, the kunzite namesake illustrates the pattern by which gem variety names are established. Recognition by a major laboratory or scholar, publication in a peer-reviewed journal, and continuous commercial availability of the material together establish a varietal name in trade usage. Kunzite, hiddenite, morganite, tanzanite and tsavorite are all examples of the same naming pattern, in which a major gemologist or trade figure proposes or receives the name and a peer-reviewed publication formalises it.