Awards and Press

Awards

Over the years, our gemstones and jewelry have received wide recognition from organizations including the American Gem Trade Association (AGTA).  While we don’t enter many competitions, occasionally we create something we feel is truly exceptional. As of 2025, we have been recognized for 10 awards from the Spectrum Cutting Edge Awards.

2025

We are honored to have won several awards this year, in both gemstone and jewelry categories. This year, Jeff cut two incredible gemstones that were recognized, and our first ever jewelry entry won Best Use of Platinum and Color and Platinum Honors awards.

Best Use of Platinum & Color

We were awarded our first jewelry award in the AGTA Spectrum Awards for Best Use of Platinum & Color. This impressive necklace features over 900 gemstones, including color change garnets and a stunning 4.43-carat tsavorite Garnet at it’s center.

The AGTA Award-winning platinum necklaces, featuring starburst pendants with diamonds, green tsavorite, and color-change garnets, are shown on a white background—highlighting the Best Use of Platinum.

Honorable Mention

This beautiful 3.54-carat peachy-pink unheated Montana sapphire was awarded Honorable Mention in the North American Mined Gemstones category at the AGTA Spectrum Awards.

A round, faceted, peachy-pink Montana sapphire is shown with its reflection, celebrating its AGTA Award honorable mention in the North American Gemstones category and recognition in industry awards.

Honorable Mention

This 40.58-carat Tanzanite in our “Stella” square cushion design was recognized in the All Other Cut Gemstones category at the AGTA Spectrum Awards.

The AGTA Award- Other Gemstones features a stunning square cushion-cut blue tanzanite, recently highlighted in the press and honored with an Honorable Mention in the Cutting Edge—All Other Cut Gemstones category.

2022

In 2022, two exceptional Montana sapphires cut by Jeff Hapeman were entered in “American Gemstones” category of the AGTA Spectrum Cutting Edge Awards and the took both 2nd and 3rd place in the category.

A stunning blue square cushion-cut sapphire is displayed, accompanied by the text: "2nd Place. Jeffrey R. Hapeman, Earth's Treasury - 7.79 ct. custom precision square cushion-cut, unheated blue Montana Sapphire from Rock Creek, Montana." This exquisite gem has attracted significant attention due to recent awards honoring its exceptional quality and craftsmanship. Product Name: Spectrum20222ndPlace content
The Spectrum2022ThirdPlace 12.18 carat unheated pure yellow champagne Montana sapphire, named "Champagne Toast," was awarded 3rd place, capturing significant press and accolades.

2020

Third Place

In  2020 AGTA created a new category for American Gemstones.  Unknown to us, the Somewhere in the Rainbow collection entered a matched pair of Montana Sapphires cut in our “Helena” brilliant oval design.

This design has become something of a trademark for our business. This particular pair of sapphires is the largest matched set we have been able to mine and cut in the last 6 years and were awarded third place in the new category.

A pair of modified cushion-cut Montana Sapphires, totaling 6.90 carats and titled "Thing1 & Thing2," claimed 3rd place in the prestigious AGTA2020 competition.

2016

First Place

This 42.47-carat Mexican apatite, faceted in our custom “Aurora” square cushion design, was awarded first place in the “All Other Faceted” category at the AGTA Spectrum Awards.

Apatite this clean and large is extremely rare.  This gem is now in the “Somewhere in the Rainbow” collection.

A radiant-cut yellow diamond with a high level of brilliance, showcased against a plain white background as if ready for the spectrum award content.

Notable Press

While most of our awards have been for our gem cutting, in 2024 Jeff won an award for an article he co-authored alongside Dr. Aaron Palke and Nathan Renfro from the Gemological Institute of North America (GIA) and the retired state geologist of Montana, Richard Berg. The article was an overview of all of the major Montana Sapphire deposits from a historical, geological and gemological perspective. The full article can be found here.

Introducing the 2023-Gubelin-Award page, showcasing the winners with photographs of the authors and summaries of their award-winning articles. This page highlights their exceptional contributions to gemology and celebrates their notable achievements in this prestigious award.

In the spring of 2021, several of our pink Madagascar sapphires were featured on the cover of the Gemological Institute of America’s Winter 2020 Edition of their “Gems & Gemology” journal. You can read more about these incredible gemstones here.

Madagascar Sapphires featured on the cover of Gems & Gemology

In 2021, we were featured in a GIA article for their “Gems & Geology” series, where we discussed how the pandemic impacted our business, along with the gemstone industry. You can find the full article here.

A 2.04 ct blue brilliant-cut unheated Rock Creek sapphire rests beside a polished turquoise cabochon on a textured gray surface, evoking the sparkling elegance of award-worthy gemstones.
A 2.04-carat unheated Rock Creek sapphire cut by Jeff Hapeman.

At the annual Tucson Gem Show in 2019, our founder Jeff Hapeman was one of select group of gemstone artists interviewed by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). You can read the article, “Jeff Hapeman; Stories from a Gem Cutter” here and find the full interview below.

Additional Publications

Below are a few links to articles Jeff Hapeman has either co-written or provided photographs of gemstones for:

Museum Exhibits

An 11.50-carat faceted amethyst and a natural crystal from Jackson’s Crossroads, Georgia.

A number of our gems are featured in museum collections or private collections that are occasionally exhibited in museums.  Currently, we have gems exhibited in the Gem Vault at the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum, the Tellus Museum in Georgia, the Perot Museum in Texas and the University of Arizona Museum.  

The Georgia amethyst featured in the image below is part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.