Some dealers sell emeralds; a rare few seem to understand them. Manuel Marcial de Gomar, the Key West gem expert known throughout the trade as “The Emerald Whisperer,” has passed away at 90, National Jeweler reported on October 14, closing a career of more than seven decades that ran from the emerald country of Colombia to the shipwreck emeralds of the Florida Keys.
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At a glance
- Who: Manuel Joseph Marcial de Gomar (1935–2026), emerald expert, cutter, appraiser and jeweler.
- Base: Emeralds International, Key West, Florida, opened in 1980 and now led by his daughter Marina Marcial.
- Signature stone: the 25.86-carat Marcial de Gomar Star, described by GIA in 2015 as the largest star emerald known to date.
- Florida link: official independent appraiser of emeralds recovered from the 1622 galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha.
- Legacy: an early method for judging emeralds on their own terms rather than by diamond-derived standards.
Who was Manuel Marcial de Gomar?
Born in Newark, New Jersey, on September 13, 1935, to parents of Spanish descent, Marcial de Gomar moved with his family to Colombia in 1947. After service in the U.S. Coast Guard he returned there, and over the following decades he became, in turn, an emerald wholesaler, a gem consultant, a retail jeweler, a designer, an educator and an appraiser. According to National Jeweler, he was a guest speaker for the Gemological Institute of America, the American Society of Appraisers and the National Association of Jewelry Appraisers, and his work appeared in GIA’s Gems & Gemology.
For Florida, he was something rarer still: the man who helped turn Key West’s Duval Street into a destination for museum-quality gemstones. The State of Florida recognized him as an emerald expert in 2001, and its admiralty court did the same in 2012. He is survived by Inge, his wife of 62 years, their four children and seven grandchildren.
How did a chance flight lead him to Colombia’s emerald mines?
The story begins, as many gem stories do, with luck. In 1955, aged 19, he sat beside a mining official on a flight to Colombia. The official was taking over the administration of the Chivor mine and hired the young passenger as his interpreter. Marcial de Gomar went on to spend six years in the Gachalá, Somondoco and Chivor region of the Guavio River country, travelling on foot and on horseback, earning a commercial pilot’s license in 1958 and making his first emerald recovery in 1959 alongside his mentor, a guide named Mono. His family’s collection site describes the condition he caught there, with some affection, as “Green Fever.”
Chivor and its neighbor Muzo are the storied names of emerald history. Colombian stones were prized long before Spanish ships carried them to the courts of Europe and Mughal India, and to this day a Colombian origin report remains one of the most powerful words a dealer can attach to an emerald. In 1964 Marcial de Gomar opened what is described as the first all-emerald store outside Colombia, Emeralds of Colombia Ltd. in Freeport, Bahamas. He moved to Hawaii in 1969 and, in 1980, opened the Key West shop that remains the family’s home base for emeralds, red beryl, sunstone and natural queen conch pearls.
What is the Marcial de Gomar Star emerald?
Star emeralds are among the most unusual phenomena in the beryl family. In its Fall 2015 Gem News report, GIA described the 25.86-carat oval double cabochon as “the eleventh, and largest, star emerald known to date.” Marcial de Gomar bought it as part of a 1,000-carat parcel of rough in 1999, reportedly of Madagascan origin; the Miami-based cutter Jone Ribeiro shaped it, and it sat in his personal collection for 13 years before independent gemologist Martin Fuller, examining the collection with him in 2013, recognized a star rather than a cat’s eye. GIA explained the six-rayed star as the work of minute hexagonal fluid inclusions aligned with the crystal, which create a thin-film interference effect. National Jeweler calls it the largest known double-sided star emerald ever documented.
His other named stones read like a private museum: La Gloria, an 887-carat rough Muzo emerald shown in 2002 in an exhibit with the Smithsonian; the “Tears of Fura,” a matched pair of pear-shaped Muzo emeralds of 95 carats, which also lends its name to his autobiography; and the Heart of Carolina and Princess of Carolina, the first two emeralds he cut from North American Emerald Mines’ 1999 recovery in Hiddenite, North Carolina, the first significant emerald find in North America.
What was his role with the Atocha emeralds?
The Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha was lost in a hurricane off the Florida Keys in 1622, carrying Colombian emeralds bound for Spain. When Mel Fisher’s Treasure Salvors located its main site in 1985, Marcial de Gomar was chosen as the official independent appraiser of the emeralds brought up from the seabed. He later sat on the board of the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Museum from 1998 to 2002. The provenance he helped document still matters: National Jeweler notes that a 5.27-carat emerald from the wreck sold at auction in 2022 for $1.2 million.
“He helped translate a lifetime of seeing into a vocabulary others could use.”
The Marcial de Gomar family, via National Jeweler
Why does his work matter to emerald buyers today?
In our view, his most lasting contribution is quieter than any record stone. National Jeweler credits him with one of the earliest comprehensive approaches to evaluating emeralds by their own characteristics, rather than by standards borrowed from diamonds. That distinction is the whole art of buying a fine emerald. A diamond is judged against an ideal of absence: no color, no inclusions. An emerald is judged by presence: the depth and saturation of its green, the gentle “jardin” of inclusions that speaks of natural growth, and the way light moves through a well-proportioned stone. He brought the same thinking to pearls, publishing the Marcial de Gomar Conch Pearl Color Description Guide in 2009. If you are weighing an emerald against its sister stones, our guide to ruby, emerald and sapphire prices and durability sets out the trade-offs.
His career also mirrors an American thread in the gem story we have followed this month, from the homecoming of the Arkansas Diamond to the North Carolina emeralds he cut, proof that legendary stones are not only found in faraway mines.
For the collector
- Origin drives value. Colombian stones from historic mines such as Muzo and Chivor command a premium; ask for a recognized laboratory report stating origin before paying for the name.
- Ask about clarity enhancement. Most emeralds are treated with oil or resin to soften surface-reaching fissures; reputable reports note the degree, and untreated or minor-enhancement stones of fine color are priced at a significant premium.
- Phenomenal emeralds are a niche. With GIA counting only eleven known star emeralds as of 2015, there is no broad market to price them against; any purchase rests on the individual stone, its report and its story.
- Shipwreck provenance needs paperwork. Atocha emeralds carry a premium for their history; keep every certificate and chain-of-custody document, as these are what give the provenance its value. Past auction prices do not predict future value.
- Where to see the family’s work: Emeralds International continues in Key West under Marina Marcial, with her husband, Carl Schutze, carrying on the one-of-a-kind jewelry designs; confirm availability and pricing directly with the shop.
Frequently asked questions
Who was “The Emerald Whisperer”?
Manuel Marcial de Gomar, a Key West emerald expert, cutter and appraiser who worked in the gem trade for more than 70 years and passed away in 2026 at age 90.
What is the largest star emerald?
The 25.86-carat Marcial de Gomar Star, which GIA described in 2015 as the eleventh and largest star emerald known at the time.
What is the Atocha emerald connection to Key West?
Emeralds from the 1622 galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha were recovered off the Florida Keys after 1985, and Marcial de Gomar served as their official independent appraiser.
Is Emeralds International still open?
Yes. According to National Jeweler, the Key West business is led by his daughter Marina Marcial, and her husband continues his one-of-a-kind jewelry designs.
Sources: National Jeweler · GIA, Gems & Gemology, Fall 2015 · Marcial de Gomar Collection · Cuervo y Sobrinos
