About the Book
The Curious Lore of Precious Stones (1913) is George Frederick Kunz's grand tour of everything humanity has ever believed about gems: talismans and amulets, engraved charms, ominous opals, crystal gazing, the High Priest's breastplate, birth-stones, planetary influences, and medicinal cures. Kunz was Tiffany & Co.'s legendary gem expert — the mineral kunzite is named for him — and he wrote with a collector's love and a scholar's footnotes.
The book remains the standard source on gem folklore, quoted wherever birth-stones or crystal balls are discussed. Kunz's position let him examine the world's great stones firsthand, and his stories run from Aztec bloodstone cures to the sapphires of medieval bishops.
This digital edition presents the complete keyed text of the 1913 first edition. A small number of keying errors in chapter titles (such as 'Calismanic' for 'Talismanic') have been restored to the printed text; everything else is preserved exactly as keyed.