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Mineral collectors of the "old school," especially in California, remember Jack Jago as a brilliant, if idiosyncratic, mineral collector with an eye for beauty and rarity, and a penchant for visiting remote areas around the world. He donated his superb mineral collection to the Smithsonian in 1965 and his excellent collection of gemstones to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in 1988. Today many of his finest pieces can be seen on public display at these institutions.
On April 21, 2001, the mineral and gem community lost one of its legends. "Jack Jago," as he was best known for most of his life, was a man of slight physical stature, but a formidable personality who left an indelible impression on all who knew him. A remarkable intellect, he was passionate about music, art, literature and, of course, minerals and gems. His love of beauty and lifelong quest for knowledge certainly were both keys to his success as a mineral and gem collector
John Bernard Jago was born on April 1, 1909 in Livorno, Italy. His mother, Harriet Benfield, was an American of Polish descent and his father was Cornish. When Jack was about four, his parents divorced. In late 1915, shortly after the outbreak of World War I, his mother brought him and his two-year-younger sister Beatrice ("Nini") from Italy to the San Francisco area, where her parents and three other siblings had already settled. Harriet's brother, Bernard ("Ben") Benfield, who was to be a guiding influence and benefactor to the Jago family, insisted that they settle in a small town, as it would provide a better atmosphere in which to raise young children. So it was that they came to live in Palo Alto, California.
Young Jack Jago distinguished himself as a true child prodigy on the piano, rising quickly to the concert level. At 15 he headed back to Europe, where he attended boarding school in Switzerland. His experiences in Europe as a youth no doubt contributed to his refined and somewhat European manners. His early globetrotting also primed his linguistic talents. Bilingual from the start in Italian and English, the languages of his youth, he later grew to be fluent in Spanish, French, German, Greek and Latin and was...