Stuart & Donna Wilensky’s Fine Minerals: VOLUME 1
Welcome to our first volume of fine minerals. Within these pages are some of the finest mineral specimens of the world. All of these specimens have been sold by Stuart & Donna Wilensky over the past 20 years. We feel privileged to have owned so many wonderful mineral specimens.
Wilensky Fine Minerals, VOL. 1
Hardcover Edition, 68 color photos, 63 pages.
Price: $30.00 each
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The minerals in this set of books are now scattered in collections across the globe, never to be seen by any one person ever again. This compilation is my life’s work. What you see in the pages to follow are what our fortunate eyes have had the pleasure of seeing. There is no particular order to the photos, they are a representative selection of the highest quality specimens which have passed through our hands.
Stuart and Donna Wilensky Fine Minerals began about 21 years ago at a flea market on Long Island. We were newly married and stumbled across a table filled with Arkansas Quartz and polished Agates. We instantly fell in love with a clear Quartz group and bought it for $50.00. That night we took it home, placed it on our dining room table and just stared with wonder at the natural beauty, the unbelievable perfection of the sharp clear crystals. I had seen crystals like this in natural history museums but never thought we could own them.
I (Stuart) grew up in a very artistic family. My parents were art and antique dealers and I traveled the world with them visiting museums and studying every period of art from Egyptian to 20th century. In college I earned my masters degree in art history. Little did I know that every artist, every creative work I had ever seen would pale in comparison to the work of Mother Nature. My lifetime of aesthetic learning drew me rapidly towards the natural beauty of minerals. It was as if a lifetime studying art had brought me to this point where I now understood that all art, all aesthetics, come from nature. The appreciation of human art is but a reflection of nature itself. Donna has the most incredible taste in beauty without any formal training and was drawn to the minerals as quickly as I was. We actively pursued their acquisition, visiting museums and mineral galleries wherever we could find them from, New York City to London. I have been a collector my whole life and knew that obtaining the very best was the path for us. We both worked night and day constantly refining our taste and learning all that we could. This series of volumes, for us, is our legacy as mineral dealers and collectors.
The only theme in this series is one of consistent quality and beautiful aesthetics. It has always been our goal to buy, sell and collect only those mineral specimens which we would like to have in our own collection. We have always valued the artistic aspect of minerals, but also believe that with depth of knowledge collectors can appreciate a piece for its rarity, locality or crystal size. As you will see, our primary focus has and always will be on acquiring specimens which have the following criteria, most often in this order:
- Beauty, aesthetics and overall balance
- Perfection of crystal quality, sharpness and form
- Color and clarity (if applicable)
- Lack of damage
- Color and/or texture contrast
Of course we always put in the mix the indefinable essence of any work of art, how it affects you and moves you emotionally and artistically. The intrinsic value of aesthetic minerals is the pleasure you get from viewing them.
Minerals are my personal passion. My intention is to share with fellow collectors this passion, the joy we have experienced in owning and handling so many wonderful mineral specimens, and to encouraging the collecting and preservation of mineral specimens as works of art. By publishing this set of books wherein others can view, compare and enjoy aesthetic mineral specimens, we hope to promote mineral collecting right along side the more traditional fine arts of painting and sculpture.
No museum or collector can ever possess all of the beauty in the world but we can all enjoy having our own private museum in photographs. This book’s sole purpose is to enjoy the beauty of minerals.
ALL PHOTOS BY STUART WILENSKY
Reviews are in!
- That was such a nice write up about your book and your life! We really do have a lot in common, just wish I had started a lot younger like you. Your artistic background is what gives you that incredible edge, it is what I am counting on in our quest for more fabulous minerals too. You add a tremendous amount of “class” to the hobby and business. I can see why your name has been so highly regarded in the industry.
Gail & Jim Spann - Hi Stuart,
We just returned from the Munich Show (following a week in Italy) and are still a bit bleary-eyed. However, your beautiful book in with our accumulated mail certainly got our attention. What a pleasure to leaf through page after page of exquisite mineral photos.
Marie Huizing, Managing Editor Rocks & Minerals Magazine, www.rocksandminerals.org - Dear Stuart & Donna: Vol. 1 has arrived today here. It is wonderful. I want vol. 2, 3, and more and more…
Thank you very much
Javier - Hi Stuart, I received your book today. WOW, WOW, WOW!
Best Regards,
Cliff Vermont - Hello Stuart, Thank you for sending me your wonderful new book of mineral specimens. It must be the best “picture book” of mineral specimens on the market.
Matthew Webb - Stu, Thanks for the book. It was a pleasant surprise. You run a class act. The mineral world could surely use more people like you.
Wayne Sorenson - I love your new book. Thanks so much for my signed copy. I can’t wait for more.
Dave Waisman - Hi Stuart, Just received your beautiful new book. WOW! I look forward to mounting many more of your wonderful minerals. Thanks again.
Bill& Elsie Stone – The Sunnywood Collection - Dear Stuart and Donna Wilensky,
I just received your book in the mail today. The photos of the minerals are beautiful!
Sincerely, Michael Daligdig - I just wanted to say how nice that book is. It is one of my favorites. Beautiful pictures, that make me wish I had one of each specimens pictured. I can’t wait for Vol 2. Once again thank you
Budd Butcher - Hi Stu: Thanks for sending me your book! It is beautifully done and it is inspiring to see, in one place, what one person can acquire.
All the best, Russ Behnke - Great job guys! Beautiful specimens, beautiful book. Can’t wait for next one.
Regards, Steve and Carol Maslansky
Extended Review by Bob Cook
This interesting book is another photographic essay of minerals in or passing through a particular setting, in this case specimens that have been in the stock of dealers Stuart and Donna Wilensky.
Others representatives of this publishing trend include Masterpieces of the Mineral World highlighting the fine specimens in the Houston Museum (reviewed in vol. 80, no. 5 of this magazine) and The Smale Collection-Beauty in Natural Crystals (see review accompanying this review). Each of these books presents a collection of mineral images that offers subtle insights into the collecting philosophy, taste, and prioritization of desirable attributes of those responsible for the specimens’ acquisitions. The very selection of the particular specimens chosen for inclusion in the books as well as the photographic techniques used are equally revealing.
This book begins with a nicely done introduction to the Wilensky’s and their business. It makes clear their devotion to minerals as objects of beauty and intrigue, and equates fine specimens with works of art. The final paragraph in this sections puts it well, saying that ….”no museum can ever possess all of the beauty in the world but we can all enjoy having our own private museum in photographs. This book’s sole purpose is to enjoy the beauty of minerals.” The following 59 pages present photographs of 68 specimens. A few are shown front and back while others have enlargement insets of a particular portion of the specimen. Of these, seven are of fluorite, six are tourmaline, five are beryl var. aquamarine, and three each illustrate apatite, beryl var. morganite, and quartz. Some of the specimens are quite well-known and have been seen in other publications and, for those fortunate enough to visit the major shows, others have graced a variety of displays.
Little information is given for each piece other than it name, location, and size; a few are attributed to a particular source or collection and old labels are shown with several. The book closes with a useful mineral index.
The quality of the photographs, each taken by the senior author, is uniformly good, as is the quality of printing and accuracy of color. Specimen dimensions are given in inches, a somewhat welcomed break from modern trend toward “metrification.” There is a lack of uniformity in naming specimens. In some cases the species is given, in others only the variety is indicated, while in others only the group is mentioned. One has the feeling that the authors have been systematically compiling a photographic record of the best specimens passing through their business and have chosen to periodically share their favorites with the rest of the collecting world through the publication of a series of books of which this is only the first. For this they are certainly to be commended.
Robert B. Cook