John D. Dyer - Precious Gemstones Co.

History

1996
Partnership formed between John and David Dyer - Precious Gemstones Co. is born.

John Dyer faceting

Trip to Zambia for emerald and aquamarine rough amid the background
clatter of machine guns. Giving some of the rough gems to a faceter for cutting they were outraged by the price charged and the poor quality of the cutting (indeed, two of the three emeralds that were cut were so badly faceted that after not selling for a number of years they had to be recut) John decided to take matters into his own hands with the purchase of his first Ultra Tec faceting machine. While the struggling new business was getting on its feet John's cutting skills were improving as he pored over gemstone faceting books. His trial and error methods began to pay off as beautiful, sparkling gemstones began to emerge from his cutting wheel.

1998
John and David make the first of many gem buying trips to Brazil. Read more... about sourcing gem rough.

John and David at Imperial topaz mine

1999
David's skills with machine tools helped him to create Precious Gemstone's first concave-faceting machine.

David Dyer's first concave gem

2002
First of 20 AGTA Cutting Edge Awards for his split-facet super-trillion Pakistani peridot.

John Dyer's first award

Precious Gemstones Co. publishes its first gemstone catalog.

2002 gemstone1 catalog

2003
John begins experimenting with a combination of carving and flat faceting.

Carved and faceted gemstones

2004
"Earthly Perfection", an article about John's cutting is published in Professional Jeweler.

"John Dyer has achieved the highest pinnacles of success in gem cutting despite – or perhaps because of – his modest nature. Free of the bounds of arrogance and self-importance, he pursues beauty for beauty’s sake. Along the way, he’s won multiple American Gem Trade Association Cutting Edge Awards." Read more...

2005
John is the first person to ever sweep an entire category in the AGTA Cutting Edge Awards.

John Dyer sweeps 2005 awards

2006
John wins four more AGTA awards including his first award in the carving category

John Dyer's 2006 AGTA awards

John has GIA test a new kind of red garnet. GIA's verdict of pyrope-almandine-grossular differentiated the gem from Rose Malaya. John dubs the new gem "Gypsy Rose". Read all about it in Modern Jeweler's Gypsy Rose Garnet article!

2007
John sweeps the Faceting Category again, wins a total of seven AGTA awards including his first awards in the Combination Category (1st and 3rd place) AND wins his first Gemmy Award! A total of 8 awards!

John with his 2007 AGTA awards

John's award-winning ZigZag™cut Afghan green tourmaline is featured in Colored Stone.

Gemmy award winning ZigZag green tourmaline by John Dyer

"John Dyer of Precious Gemstones Co., Eau Claire, Wisconsin, has a reputation as a wunderkind. Almost 28, he has already won 17 AGTA Cutting Edge awards — and is the only gem cutter to sweep the Faceting category in two separate years.

His winning ZigZag™ Cut, a green Afghan tourmaline, is his first-ever Gemmy entry. It combines flat faceting and his trademarked Z groove." Read more...

New online gemstone catalog is created.