Tairona Co.

While traveling through South America in the early 1980’s, Paul met emerald dealers on a beach in Tolu, Colombia and fell in love with the gemstones. After receiving his Graduate Gemologist degree from the Gemological Institute of America, Santa Monica, he started the Tairona Company.

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Traveling to Brazil, Tanzania, Kenya, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Burma for the past 37 years in search of stones has led to great adventures, as well as developing many close friends around the world.  One of those is Phillip Youngman, an AGTA Spectrum Award winning cutter, who patented a special cut for zircon to bring out the true brilliance of the stone. We are happy to have many zircons cut by him.

 

Our goal has always been to provide fine quality gemstones for the jewelry designers and manufacturers. Many of our stones have been used in award winning jewelry designs, including the prestigious AGTA Spectrum Awards and the JCK Jewelers Choice Awards. A wholesale only company, we are members of the American Gem Trade Association and only source ethically mined stones.