About John and Laura

John and Laura Ramsey are two of the most well-known and respected names in the field of gemstones and jewelry. They began their career in the wholesale gem and jewelry trade, visiting some of the world’s leading gem mining districts in Thailand, Brazil, Sri Lanka, and East Africa, and working one on one with private collectors who wanted dramatic and important gemstone jewelry and extensive loose gemstone portfolios. From there, their journey expanded to television home shopping audiences in the United States, Great Britain, and Canada, through which they gained millions of loyal “Gems at Large” viewers and other clients. To this day, they continue to hear from friends and customers about how grateful they are for their enviable and timeless collections. As a team, John and Laura have created countless high-quality, custom jewelry pieces—a blending of John’s expertise in rare and exotic gemstones coupled with Laura’s exquisite talent for design. They likewise co-wrote three books on the world of gemstones and travel, including The Collector/Investor Handbook of Gems, The Gem Collector’s Handbook, and Gem Chronicles: The Early Years, all of which continue to be sought after and consulted by gem enthusiasts worldwide.

John and Laura Ramsey write: WHAT MAKES A SAPPHIRE BEAUTIFUL???

Posted on September 9, 2014 by John and Laura

The photo we’ve included in this posting is a good example of a really great sapphire. What makes is so beautiful and appreciated the world around? First of all there is what it is not. It is not so pale a color that we would say “who cares?” Secondly, the photo shows a stone that is not so dark that we would say “who cares?” What we are showing in the photo is a “Goldilocks” sapphire that is “just right” when it comes to depth of color. Not too dark, not to light. Next we have a stone that is not hampered by a lot of eye visible inclusions. The gem in the photo is relatively “clean” and flaw free. The combination of a just right color and good clarity give us the opportunity of seeing nice reflections off of the back facets while we are looking down into the stone from the top. The gem in the photo is relatively well cut and that is another reason we’re getting some nice reflections off the back facets. Color, clarity and cut…3 out of the 4 “C’s”. The only thing left is the size (weight in carats). Well, we’ll leave that to the imagination this time….Is it 1 carat, 5 carats, 50 carats? Might as well dream………

Urgent Gem News, Urgent Gem News

Posted on August 25, 2014 by John and Laura

Blue Moon Diamond on public display—Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History
Really great news for gem lovers….The recently found, cut and polished “Blue Moon Diamond” will be on display at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, mineralogy department. Many of the fine gems found there are in L.A. county’s Gem Vault—literally a bank-style vault with quite a few really fabulous gems on display. One of the best features for me is that 6 or so of the gems on display there are ones I cut many years ago. Kind of a rush to see them there. The Blue Moon is supposed to take residency there September 12, 2014 and is supposed to remain there for a few months. We’re going to be in the area and hope to take it in.

John and Laura Ramsey write: Karats vs. Carats

Posted on August 7, 2014 by John and Laura

Not too long ago we were watching a news show that used the word Karat and used it incorrectly. This got us to thinking that it might be fun to talk with our Gems at Large family about the two words—Karat and Carat. It is always fun to learn a couple new things when it is about something as fun as jewelry. Who knows? You might wind up on Jeopardy one day and need this!
The word Karat, in the United States, is used for the purity of gold. There are legal requirements for the purity of 24 Karat, 18 Karat, 14 Karat and 10 Karat gold. Each level is equivalent to a certain purity. 24 Karat gold is pure gold, 18 Karat gold is 75% gold and 25% other alloys, 14 Karat gold is 58.3% gold and 41.7% alloys while 10 Karat gold is 41.6% gold and 58.3% alloys.
The term Carat is a measure of weight. Carats refer in jewelry to the weight of gems—diamonds or colored stones that are held in the jewelry by the metal. Carats in loose, un-mounted stones are simply the weight of the stones. Here are a couple of ways to remember that a Carat is a measure of weight: 1. Lots of us know about the 4 “C’s” of diamonds—Carats, Cut, Clarity, and Color. Now we also know that this applies to loose un-mounted diamonds that have yet to be associated with gold. 2. Another way to remember that the Carat has nothing to do with gold is that many diamonds are round and are about the same size and even weight as a typical aspirin tablet—think round and round. Then think weight and weight. A one carat diamond weighs 200 milligrams and a typical aspirin tablet weighs about 230 milligrams. Round and round, weight and weight.

John and Laura Ramsey write: Dueling Tiaras

Posted on July 27, 2014 by John and Laura

Europe is all abuzz comparing the two young royals Princess Kate and the recently crowned queen of Spain the former Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano. Queen Letizia married Felipe VI of Spain in 2004 and was a princess until June 19, 2014. On that date her spouse’s parents abdicated in favor of the younger couple. Suddenly Letizia has access to the crown jewels of Spain and has been wearing tiaras amongst other fine jewels. The Euro tabloids have fastened on the two relatively young royals and is always showing them in tiaras. While the two ladies have a 10 year difference in age they both photograph well and show jewelry to its best advantage.
Chances are the two are so far removed by geography that comparisons and competitions are the last thing on their mind. In any case the crown jewels of Great Britain are miles ahead of the crown jewels of any other country. Convenient ownership of the right colonies at the right time gave Britain the edge. From Sri Lanka came great sapphires. From South Africa came the world’s largest collection of large fine diamonds. India contributed emeralds.
According to sources some of the jewels owned by the Spanish royal family were sold while they were in exile from 1931 to 1968. Jewels have often come in handy as a form of portable wealth for many centuries.

John and Laura Ramsey write: “Peridot Gem of the Sun”

Posted on July 10, 2014 by John and Laura

August babies have a lot better birthstone than they may have imagined. Ten cool facts that they may not know about peridot.
1. Cleopatra’s famous emeralds may have in fact been peridot.
a. The island of Zabargad in the Red Sea off of Egypt is an ancient source for peridot.
2. Zabargad Island is also known as Topazios Island and St. John’s Island.
3. Peridot comes from several sources around the world—Burma (a.k.a. Myanmar), China, Afghanistan, Pakistan and San Carlos Reservation, Globe Arizona USA!!!
4. While peridot comes from a number of sources, reliable sources producing large fine quality gems remains elusive. Want a lot of small peridot gems—no problem. Want a lot of large fine peridot gems—take a ticket and stand in line.
5. Peridot crystals from Zabargad were easy to identify as from that source in that many o them were exposed to sand storms through the ages and displayed a sand-blasted surface.
6. Great color in peridot is also the perfect spring green—green and gold slammed together.
7. Peridot comes from deep in the earth’s mantle and is brought up to the surface in volcanic activity.
8. Peridot also comes from outer space. Meteorites have been discovered with beautiful peridot inside.
9. Peridot only comes in green as opposed to many gems which come in a veritable rainbow of colors. Such versatile gems include: diamond, sapphire, garnet and of course the rainbow gem—tourmaline.
10. Peridot is one of John Ramsey’s favorite gems to cut and polish.

© Ramseygems.com, Inc., 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from John and Laura Ramsey is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to johnandlauraramsey.com with appropriate and specific links back to this original content.

John and Laura Ramsey write: More Record Prices—Ruby this time….

Posted on July 7, 2014 by John and Laura

Just recently an important Burmese ruby and diamond ring was sold at Christie’s in Hong Kong. While the diamonds surrounding the ruby were nothing to discount all accounts of the sale referred to the ruby as if it were all by itself in the ring.

Counted alone the ruby went for a per-carat record of just over USD $550,000 per-carat. At 6.04 carats the total came to almost USD $3,333,000.00.

Continue reading →

John and Laura Ramsey write: “World Record Sapphire”

Posted on July 2, 2014 by John and Laura

Fitting into the theme of world records being set for gems and jewelry the spring auction late in April by Sotheby’s saw a new per-carat record for a sapphire. The gem is recorded as being a 28+ carat Kashmir gem. According to the auction house the proceeds of the sale are going to charity. With a total price exceeding $5 million USD the per-carat price was over $180,000.
In the lore of colored gemstones Kashmir sapphire is the bench mark. The purity of the blue in Kashmir stones is indeed stunning. Traditionally the Kashmir stones are said to have slight haze but that seems to vary from piece to piece. After spending months maybe years of my life in Thailand (ruby/sapphire central for the world) and seeing gem after gem I would have to say that a fine Burmese sapphire can be every bit as lovely. Some traditionalists may want to disagree but that is just fine. To a true lover of gems they are all like a family—each member is wonderful on their own and for their own unique characteristics.
For instance, about 10 years ago or perhaps a few more there were some fabulous blue sapphires from Madagascar which were certified as untreated. Many of these gems were absolutely stunning. A great Ceylon stone is also beautiful. In fact many of the most famous sapphires are Ceylon stones residing in the important state collections of the world.

John and Laura Ramsey write: The Pink Star Diamond

Posted on June 26, 2014 by John and Laura

Late last year the world’s largest diamond rated by the GIA as Fancy Vivid Pink was up for auction at Sotheby’s. The piece fetched a record price in excess of $83 million but when it was all over the sale did not go through. The finished gem weighs 59.60 carats and is a little over 1″ long by about 0.80 wide. It is a beautiful oval and the color is amazing. With all the auctions going on all over the world bringing record amounts it seems that great gems are suddenly popping up to be available for the auctions.

Prior to the auction the Pink Star was shown at an exhibit at the Smithsonian named “The Splendor of Diamonds.” Along with the pink gem were some other fabulous diamonds: The Moussaieff Red Diamond, the DeBeers Millennium Star and the Heart of Eternity Diamond. What a wonderful showing of diamonds.

John and Laura Ramsey report: for “The Largest Diamonds” go to…

Posted on June 24, 2014 by John and Laura

We’ve mentioned in the past that Saturn and Jupiter might be raining diamonds. However, for the biggest diamonds we might have to travel event further. Out of our solar system scientists believe there is a planet whose mass may be as much as 1/3 diamond. Since the planet is so much larger than earth that 1/3 would equal about 2 earth masses!!!

Want even bigger? More recently astronomers have just revealed that there is a dwarf star with the mass of our own sun which might just be one large diamond. The dwarf star has the mass of our own sun but has collapsed in on itself and in the process turned itself into a gem of a star. The weight in carats of diamond is estimated at 10 billion trillion trillion.

Astronomy has always been an interest of ours as have gems. Who knew years ago that the two would converge to give us dreams of treasure beyond all measure?

John and Laura Ramsey report: Fabulous New Blue Diamond Found

Posted on June 16, 2014 by John and Laura

Just last week it was reported by Petra Diamonds Ltd. that they have found what they’re calling an “exceptional” rough blue diamond whose uncut weight exceeds 122 carats. Wow!

As we reported recently, a cut and polished blue diamond just recently sold for a record sum—it seems that this new stone will break that record.

Even while it is still in rough speculation, it’s likely that the cut stone out of this piece will fetch in the neighborhood of $100,000,000. That’s one hundred million dollars.

Petra has apparently examined the piece and has declared that it is of exceptional clarity. The color is a nice but not as deep a blue as the Hope diamond.

As a gem cutter I have looked at the photos of the rough piece and speculate that it might be cut into a pear shape. It would be nice to hold it in my own hands and look at it from every angle and then guess as to the cut into which it might be fashioned.

We’ll keep abreast of this story and let everybody know the outcome—the cut and the final price.

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