John and Laura Ramsey report Gem News—

Posted on June 12, 2014 by John and Laura

Exciting news this year in a world seeming somewhat depleted of fine colored gems: two great finds…

First, there has been found what may be a 50 ton boulder of Jadeite in Hpakant, Burma. Depending upon what could be the final weight of the boulder and the quality of the jadeite therein a possible several billion dollar rock. Yes, that’s billion with a “b.”

Also reported to be found is a new pocket of rubellite tourmaline in Brazil. The mine—the famous Cruzeiro mine. All the rough has already been sold. The find was in the 10’s of millions of dollars. Already sent off to the ends of the world.

Ruby and Pink Sapphire—between the lines with John and Laura Ramsey

Posted on June 9, 2014 by John and Laura

Ruby and all colors of Sapphire are simply different colors of the same mineral: Corundum. Hooray for Corundum—without you we would be missing a lot in the gem world.

Ruby is red corundum colored by chromium, and Pink Sapphire is pink corundum colored by a little less chromium than Ruby. The difference is this: Ruby has a little less than 1% chromium and Pink Sapphire generally has about 1/2 of that.

Now, here is where it gets interesting. What happens in the gems that don’t know enough to fit squarely in one camp or another? Well, some Pink Sapphires get close to red and some Rubies have apparently had a brush with Clorox and come up a little pale to be considered “red.”

Some of the best fun we’ve had was in the late 90’s when we would buy some of the more pale Burmese Rubies that were cut a little chunky on the bottom in what they call a “mixed cut.” The mixed cut would have a heavy rounded bottom in an effort to conserve color. We would buy these, cut the bottom to a “brilliant” bottom pretty much like a diamond is cut, lose a bunch of color and have the prettiest, darkest hot pink sapphires we’ve ever seen.

Sometimes things that are between the lines of common definition are the best!

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John and Laura Ramsey talk about Tanzanite and Tsavorite

Posted on June 5, 2014 by John and Laura

A couple of gems that we really love come from East Africa. Our first trip overseas together as young marrieds was to East Africa in early 1977. We were early adopters to East African gems and Tanzanite and Tsavorite were on our list even back then. We were dealing directly with miners in the region. As you can see from the photo there is a good reason the entire population of the earth immediately fell in love with these two gems.

While it is normal for Tanzanite to occur in larger sizes it is quite unusual for Tsavorite to come in larger sizes like the 6 carat gem in the photo. This is especially true for larger sizes in good colors. Some times Tsavorite is too dark or too light in the larger sizes. The piece featured is a “Goldilocks Just Right” color. If you haven’t added these two beauties to your collection you might want to save up. They’re worth it!

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John and Laura Ramsey talk about Pearl for June

Posted on June 3, 2014 by John and Laura

Most people are very familiar with the pearl as one the birthstones for June. Alexandrite and Moonstone are the other two gemstones. Pearl, with its variety of color and shapes, is an organic gem loved and treasured for centuries. It is said that the Romans built armies from the sale of a single pearl while poems abound about its transcendent beauty.

The pearl was selected as a birthstone for June by the American National Association of Jewelers in 1912. Not only can you select your favorite pearl as a birthstone, you can also receive a pearl for your 3rd, 12th and 30th wedding anniversaries. The allure of pearls is far reaching.

Pearl is considered to be organic since it is formed inside mollusks such as oysters and the mussel. An irritant, perhaps a bit of sand or a stone, can get inside the shell. Nacre is then secreted around this irritant creating a lustrous substance. Layers upon layers overlap to create an iridescent luster. A pearl can take up to 8 years to be created. Principal oyster beds are in The Persian Gulf, the Indian Ocean primarily along the coasts of Sri Lanka and India, as well as the Red Sea. Japanese pearls are found near the coast in salt water. Polynesia coasts and Australia produce cultured pearls.

Types of pearls are extensive ranging from the natural to cultured (when the irritant is placed by man inside the living oyster), to baroque, Biwa, blister, black, Freshwater pearls, seed and mabe pearls. China and Japan cultivate freshwater and cultured pearls. Freshwater pearls also occur in the rivers of Germany, Austria, Scotland, Ireland, France and the USA (Mississippi). Colors range from white and creams to pinks and iridescent black.

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The World’s Most Expensive Tourmaline: by John and Laura Ramsey

Posted on May 29, 2014 by John and Laura

Back in 1987 when we were all getting excited about the Nova Era alexandrite find in Brazil, there was a new find of tourmaline in Paraíba, Brazil.

Paraíba is in what Brazilians call the Nordeste (Northeast). Looking at a map of South America Paraíba is a small Brazilian state that sticks out about as far East as any part of the continent. The Nordeste is a generally dry area (they grow cotton in the Nordeste [does this remind anyone of Arizona and cotton]). Apparently the Nordeste is in the rain shadow of South America. If you also look at the shape of South America and Africa you can see that Paraíba fits nicely into the area of Africa now known as Nigeria.

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John and Laura Ramsey on Alexandrite

Posted on May 26, 2014 by John and Laura

Pearl is a great birthstone for June but Alexandrite is the excitement. With the advent of Chinese fresh water pearls, pearls have become almost too available. On the other hand, true, natural Alexandrite is, and will seemingly always be—rare and hard to find.

Currently the most available and yet quite nice material is from India, from the state of Andhra Pradesh. The color change can be quite nice and yet quite affordable by comparison with material from Russia or Brazil.

Be sure any Alexandrite you buy, of significant size or price, has been certified by a properly accredited appraiser or gemologist. For more information on Alexandrite, click here to read our previous blog post.

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Emerald’s Whole Family is Fun

Posted on May 22, 2014 by John and Laura

Emerald is a variety of the mineral beryl. Emerald is the vibrant green variety of beryl usually colored by Chromium. In other colors beryl has other names. The blue color for beryl is aquamarine. Pink and peach beryl is Morganite (as shown in the photo above, featuring Morganite in its rough-uncut form, straight from the mine). Yellow and golden beryl is heliodor. Red beryl is Bixbite and so far has only been found in Utah. Colorless beryl is called Goshenite.

Chemically, beryl is a Beryllium-Aluminum Silicate. As mentioned, emerald gets its green color from Chromium. There has been an addition to “emerald” of green gems colored by Vanadium but the classic emerald look comes from Chromium rich beryl. Interestingly, the red in ruby is caused by Chromium as well. Emerald is a type 3 gemstone according to GIA terminology and therefore can be expected to have eye visible inclusions.

To read more about the history of Emerald, click here >

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SUNKEN TREASURE

Posted on May 19, 2014 by John and Laura

All the recent media hype over the possible discovery of Columbus’ sunken Santa Maria has renewed worldwide interest in sunken treasure.

According to several archeologists, the remains found off the north coast of Haiti is “amazingly significant.” Watch a video of the find here >

Aside from the Santa Maria, among the most sought after wrecks is that of the San Jose. A Spanish Galleon, the The San Jose was reported to have been sunk off the coast of Cartagena, Colombia by a British warship in 1708. Aboard the San Jose was a fortune in precious metals and emeralds. Most impressive here at Gems At Large is the vast fortune in emeralds. Some estimate the total fortune of gems, silver and gold at over $10 billion USD. Now that is a fortune!

All our best— John and Laura Ramsey

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John and Laura Ramsey Talk About Emeralds

Posted on May 16, 2014 by John and Laura

With emerald being the birthstone for May, it is always fun to get back into thinking of emerald green and the renewal of spring.

The appreciation of emerald goes back centuries. Holy scriptures of East Indian by the Vedas wrote in Sanskrit of emeralds and their promotion of good luck and good health.

While emeralds are appreciated the world around, certain cultures prize them more than others. As spring unfolds here in the Pacific Northwest it is easy to appreciate the color green and the gem world’s best known representative of green: the emerald.

Learn all about emeralds in one of our previous blog posts >

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A Tribute to Evelyn H. Lauder

Posted on April 12, 2014 by John and Laura

I wanted to write a blog post about a dear lady I was lucky enough to come to know: Evelyn Lauder, the visionary Founder and Chairman of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (established in 1993).

John and I have been proud to donate some of our gemstones in jewelry over the years to help raise money for Breast Cancer Research. That is how I met Evelyn Lauder—daughter-in-law of the cosmetics giant Estee Lauder—in my hometown of New York City. We quickly discovered we had many things in common, including a love of photography, and both of us had written several books—Evelyn’s “An Eye for Beauty” was my favorite.

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John and Laura Ramsey • Gems at Large • Ramsey Gems

Jewelry and Gemstone information and education by John and Laura Ramsey

John and Laura Ramsey report Gem News—

Exciting news this year in a world seeming somewhat depleted of fine colored gems: two great finds…

Ruby and Pink Sapphire—between the lines with John and Laura Ramsey

Ruby and all colors of Sapphire are simply different colors of the same mineral: Corundum. Hooray for Corundum—without you we would be missing a lot in the gem world.

John and Laura Ramsey talk about Tanzanite and Tsavorite

John and Laura Ramsey talk about Pearl for June

The World’s Most Expensive Tourmaline: by John and Laura Ramsey

Back in 1987 when we were all getting excited about the Nova Era alexandrite find in Brazil, there was a new find of tourmaline in Paraíba, Brazil.

John and Laura Ramsey on Alexandrite

Pearl is a great birthstone for June but Alexandrite is the excitement. With the advent of Chinese fresh water pearls, pearls have become almost too available. On the other hand, true, natural Alexandrite is, and will seemingly always be—rare and hard to find.

Emerald’s Whole Family is Fun

SUNKEN TREASURE

All the recent media hype over the possible discovery of Columbus’ sunken Santa Maria has renewed worldwide interest in sunken treasure.

All our best— John and Laura Ramsey

John and Laura Ramsey Talk About Emeralds

With emerald being the birthstone for May, it is always fun to get back into thinking of emerald green and the renewal of spring.

A Tribute to Evelyn H. Lauder

I wanted to write a blog post about a dear lady I was lucky enough to come to know: Evelyn Lauder, the visionary Founder and Chairman of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (established in 1993).