Here’s a sampling of commercially available stones, and the dealers and cutters who work with them.
Arizona peridot
Arizona is home to the gem-quality green variety of the mineral olivine, aka peridot. There are deposits on an Apache reservation near the city of Globe, in a mine that the tribe operates.
Find it at: Barker & Co.
Arizona amethyst
The Grand Canyon State offers up just 2,000 pounds of this purple quartz a year, including in the rare Siberian red color. Other hues range from lilac to deep purple, mainly in 1 to 2 carats.
Find it at: Arizona Four Peaks Mining Co.
Arizona garnets
Garnets, including the traditional red variety, occur commonly throughout the US but are particularly abundant in Idaho and Arizona.
Find it at: Columbia Gem House
Oregon sunstone
Oregon is home to several mines featuring the copper-bearing labradorite feldspar called sunstone. It’s available in a range of rough sizes.
Find it at: Columbia Gem House
Utah red emerald
This rare, highly included variety of type III beryl has only one source: the Ruby Violet mine in southwest Utah. Mining is sporadic, but one dealer has a solid supply.
Find it at: Equatorian Imports
Lapidary Locals
The US is not just a big consumer of colored stones; it is also home to many accomplished gem-cutters. Meet three such talents whose work has won them acclaim.
Derek Katzenbach
Katzenbach Designs
Farmington, Maine
Derek Katzenbach is an award-winning cutter and jeweler who transforms rough gems into precision flat-faceted and fantasy-cut masterpieces.
The Maine Event — this 31.45-carat green tourmaline from Newry, Maine, that Katzenbach cut — took third place in North American Mined Gemstones at the 2023 AGTA Cutting Edge Awards.
Ben Kho
Kho International
Decatur, Georgia
Ben Kho brought gemstone identification and cutting skills with him to America after escaping the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. Today, he facets award-winning fantasy cushion and round Portuguese cuts, among others. This fancy trillion-cut, 34.98-carat kunzite took third place in All Other Cut Gemstones at the 2022 AGTA Cutting Edge Awards.
James Carpenter
The Unconventional Lapidarist
Hot Springs, Arkansas
James Carpenter cuts calibrated, opaque hard stones like jasper into cabochons with modern silhouettes — think shields and hexagons — and stabilizes them with proprietary resin. Clients also know him for Arkansas-sourced gems like wavellite and quartz. His work includes this necklace layout of shield-cut natural red jasper from Pakistan with hematite inclusions, totaling 141.70 carats.
Main image: Utah red emerald. (Equatorian Imports)
