A different approach to emeralds
About the founder
Casa de Esmeraldas was founded on a simple premise: the world's finest emeralds deserve a more thoughtful path to market.
After years spent between Dallas and Bogotá, building relationships in Colombia’s historic mining regions, I saw a gap. On one side, exceptional stones—the kind that defined empires—moving through opaque channels. On the other, collectors and connoisseurs searching for authenticity in a market flooded with treated stones and inflated claims.
Casa de Esmeraldas exists to bridge that gap. We work directly with veteran dealers in Colombia’s Boyacá department, sourcing estate-quality emeralds from Muzo, Chivor, and Coscuez. Every stone is selected by hand. Every acquisition begins with a conversation.
This isn’t a volume business. We don’t maintain speculative inventory or push seasonal collections. When a client describes what they’re seeking, we find it—or we wait until the right stone surfaces.
About us
THE JOURNEY
I didn't set out to become an emerald dealer.
The path started with diamonds—an e-commerce business that taught me the mechanics of the gem trade. Sourcing, certification, logistics, the delicate balance between margin and trust. It paid the bills. But diamonds never captivated me the way they captivate some people. They felt like a commodity.
Emeralds were different.
The first time I held a fine Colombian stone—really looked at it, understood what I was seeing—something shifted. Here was a gem with history, with geography, with soul. A stone that couldn’t be manufactured in a lab or graded into interchangeable categories. Every emerald carried its origin in its color, its inclusions, its light.
I started traveling to Bogotá. Not as a buyer at first—just learning. Walking the emerald district. Sitting in back rooms while deals happened in Spanish I barely understood. Watching how the veterans assessed stones, how relationships mattered more than price sheets.
Eventually, I found my way to a dealer who’d spent forty years in the trade. He’d seen the industry change—the mining, the treatments, the markets. He knew which stones were worth holding and which were dressed-up disappointments. More importantly, he was willing to teach.
That relationship became the foundation of Casa de Esmeraldas.
Now I split my time between Colombia and Texas. Quarterly trips to Bogotá for sourcing. The rest of the time in Dallas, handling the business side—certification, logistics, client relationships. It’s a slower way to work. But it’s the only way I know to do this right.