Editor’s Note
This excerpt from our feature on Cartier’s legacy highlights how historical gemstone provenance—from Golconda diamonds to Burmese rubies—once defined absolute quality. The full article explores how these traditional benchmarks are evolving in today’s market.
When he traveled to the Persian Gulf and beyond to discover and buy precious stones from renowned merchants, Jacques Cartier – the youngest of the three brothers who made Cartier an internationally renowned house – carried with him, in a small box, four stones. A Golconda diamond, a Colombian emerald, a Kashmir sapphire, and a Burmese ruby. This was no coincidence: each of these gems, within their respective families, served as the absolute benchmark in the eyes of experts. Their name guaranteed an origin that was itself synonymous with unsurpassed quality.
This primacy, undisputed during the 20th century, is not reflected in current collections. With the exception of Colombian emeralds, precious stones from India or Myanmar have virtually disappeared. In their place, gems from different horizons now shine. Three reasons explain this complete upheaval.
The first concerns the cessation of production, combined with the discovery of new sources. This is the case for Golconda diamonds or Kashmir sapphires, whose deposits have long been exhausted. They have been replaced, in the case of diamonds, by production from Africa as well as Russia and Canada, while corundum is now more readily extracted in Sri Lanka, Madagascar, or Mozambique.
The second reason echoes a laudable desire to display the most impeccable CSR policy possible. It is now impossible to sell corundum (sapphires and rubies) recently purchased in Burma, or rather Myanmar: their exploitation favors the ruling military junta.
The third reason is organized around a common desire, displayed by a new generation of gemologists, to favor often new deposits while demystifying hierarchies and myths.
To complete this questioning, the market has therefore spontaneously promoted new labels. They designate unexpected destinations – at the forefront of which is Tanzania – which have themselves become synonymous with quality and sustainability.
Originating from Tanzania where they were first discovered in the Umba River, sapphires of the same name are winning over major players in jewelry. Like Cartier, which uses them to stud a TuttiTutti shape-memory ring.
Gemmyo dedicates an entire collection to Umba sapphires. Design director Alexis Coin chose five shades, including cognac-tipped orange, which evoke twilight.
At Place du Marché Saint Honoré, the house Avani organizes its offerings around colored stones of very fine quality. Sri Lankan sapphire reigns supreme there. Rightly so, as the founders of the label are two brothers whose family manages several deposits on the island located south of India.
The most sought-after color?
And red?
Another stone increasingly sought after by collectors: cobalt blue spinel. The only source of supply was until now Vietnam. Tanzania now also offers it.
Louis Vuitton transposes its iconic checkerboard pattern into a piece of high jewelry thanks to amber tones, reminiscent of the warmth of leather, using Umba sapphires.
