With the flood of mass produced jewelry on the market, it’s easy to forget what a gem is. The stone you hold in your hand was dug out of the earth, chipped from the wall of a cave, or perhaps picked out of the gravel of a river bed.

Perhaps it was found by a child, a prospector, a miner. They knew that out of tons of earth, they had found a rare and prized object. A gemstone.

It was bought, sold, and traded. Another person worked carefully at a faceting wheel, grinding and polishing at intricate and precise angles to produce a sparkling gem from a rough rock. Now, you hold it in your hands.

Every gem has a story. What is yours?