Gerald Carl "Gerry" Herfurth was born in Glendale, Los Angeles County, California on June 26, 1930, the son of Geraldine Wylie and Carl E. Herfurth (1887-1978).
Herfurth served as a second lieutenant in the National Guard (1948-1955) while attending Regis College in Denver from 1949 to 1953, earning a B.S. Degree in Business Administration. He worked in financial investments for the rest of his life. Having an interest in Chemistry, and possible also minerals, he was a member of the college's Chemistry Club. The 1965-1970 Denver City Directory lists him as a "mineralogist," living with his parents; around 1966 he married Hilja Karen ___, a native of Switzerland and an opera enthusiast. She became interested in minerals as well, especially in the realm of fine lapidary art.
Herfurth built a very fine collection of minerals, meteorites, and gems. He also collected Native American artifacts. He was a member of the Meteoritical Society. He died in Lakewood, Colorado on December 16, 1998 at the age of 68. His wife, Hilja, donated about 600 specimens (valued at $350,000) from his collection to the Colorado School of Mines Museum of Earth Science in 1999, and the rest, another 800 specimens (valued at $1.75 million), along with a cash bequest of $200,000, at the time of her death in 2016.
Estimate: $7000.00- $9000.00