Manuel Marcial de Gomar’s life was defined by his love of exploring, traversing mountains and jungles in search of extraordinary emeralds and conch pearls, historic artifacts, and other natural wonders. The photo above captures his warmth and spirit, his family said. Marcial de Gomar died on July 23.
Key West, Fla.—Manuel Joseph Marcial de Gomar, an emerald expert who dedicated his life to discovering rare gems and natural treasures, died earlier this year at age 90.
Marcial de Gomar spent more than 70 years in the gemstone trade, a lifelong career defined by exploration, education, and service.
He was known for his deep knowledge of emeralds and vast experience across disciplines, from mining to cutting to appraising, as well as his pioneering contributions to gemstone-specific color grading.
Marcial de Gomar was born Sept. 13, 1935, in Newark, New Jersey, to José Marcial Charlo and Carmen Marcial de Gomar, both of Spanish descent, according to an online obituary.
His family moved to Colombia in 1947, and after serving in the U.S. Coast Guard during the Korean War, Marcial de Gomar returned to Colombia.
In 1955, while on a flight to Colombia, Marcial de Gomar, then 19, was seated beside a mining executive traveling to assume administration of the Chivor emerald mine. The man was impressed with Marcial de Gomar’s knowledge of the country and hired him on the spot as an interpreter.
The chance encounter led to his first experience with the emerald business and sparked what became a lifelong passion.
Marcial de Gomar spent six years in the Gachalá–Somondoco–Chivor region of Colombia’s Guavio River traveling on foot and horseback—even earning a commercial pilot’s license in 1958—uncovering old and new deposits and building relationships with miners and local communities.
A rare archival photograph of Manuel Marcial de Gomar as a young emerald explorer alongside his mentor and guide, Mono, during his first emerald recovery in Colombia in 1959 (Photo credit: Marcial de Gomar Collection/Emeralds International)
His extensive hands-on field mining experience won him the trust of cutters, collectors, jewelers, museum curators, auction specialists, appraisers, and historians.
He gained the nickname “The Emerald Whisperer.”
He is also credited with developing one of the earliest comprehensive approaches for evaluating emeralds according to their own characteristics at a time when colored gemstones were commonly assessed through standards derived largely from diamonds.
In 2009, he published the Marcial de Gomar Conch Pearl Color Description Guide, a practical descriptive tool for the appraisal, wholesale, and retail trades.
“He helped translate a lifetime of seeing into a vocabulary others could use,” his family said.
Though Marcial de Gomar started out as an emerald wholesaler, he also worked as a gem consultant, and as a retail jeweler, educator, and designer.
In 1964, he opened the first all-emerald retail store outside of Colombia in Freeport, The Bahamas, as Emeralds of Colombia Ltd., with a subsidiary store in Nassau.
In 1969, he established Emeralds International Inc., a retail store, in Hawaii, and in 1980, he opened a second location in Key West, Florida, which continues as the home base of operations in the design, retail, and wholesale of loose rough and cut emeralds, red beryl, sunstone, and natural queen conch pearls.
A freeform ring set with conch pearls and rough uncut Colombian emeralds designed by Marcial de Gomar (Photo credit: Marcial de Gomar Collection/Emeralds International)
Marcial de Gomar had a fondness for maritime history as well.
He researched Spanish shipwrecks at the Archives of the Indies in Seville, dove to seven wrecks in Colombia’s San Bernardo Archipelago, discovered the undersea site of an ancient Carib village, and contributed artifacts to the Underwater Explorers Club in Freeport.
In the ‘80s, he was chosen as the official independent appraiser of all the emeralds recovered from the sunken Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha, discovered in 1985 by Mel Fisher for Treasure Salvors Inc. in Key West.
(A 5.27-carat emerald recovered from the wreck sold for $1.2 million at auction in 2022.)
Marcial de Gomar served on the board of directors of the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Museum from 1998 to 2002, and he was recognized as an emerald expert by the State of Florida in 2001 and its admiralty court in 2012.
He also consulted on films including NBC’s “Hunt for Amazing Treasures,” a special that aired in 1995.
“Boy … could he romance the stone! I loved listening to him talk about emeralds. He was a genius and will be missed,” Kim Fisher, son of the late Mel Fisher and president and CEO of Mel Fisher Family Enterprises, said in a statement provided by Emeralds International.
Marcial de Gomar also served as a leading advisor to James Hill’s North American Emerald Mines Inc., which in 1999 made the first significant emerald recovery in North America in Hidden, North Carolina.
He cut the first two emeralds from that recovery, the “Heart of Carolina” and the “Princess of Carolina.”
In 2004, he consulted True North Gems of Vancouver on the Yukon emerald recovery.
Marcial de Gomar has been a guest speaker for the Gemological Institute of America, American Society of Appraisers, and the National Association of Jewelry Appraisers, and his work has appeared in several industry publications, including the 2025 edition of GIA’s Gems & Gemology.
The 25.86-carat “Marcial de Gomar Star” is the largest known double-sided star emerald ever documented. (Photo courtesy of Robert Weldon, GIA)
His lifelong pursuit of knowledge culminated in the Marcial de Gomar Collection, which includes one of his most significant discoveries, the “Marcial de Gomar Star”—the world’s largest and only known double-sided star emerald, certified by GIA in 2013—as well as “La Gloria,” an 887-carat museum-quality Muzo emerald, and 95-carat matching pear shape emeralds from Muzo known as the “Tears of Fura,” which is also the name of his autobiography.
Marcial de Gomar was also known for his decades-long work to help establish Key West and Duval Street—the mile-long bustling heart of the city where Emeralds International is located—as a destination for museum-quality gemstones and extraordinary craftsmanship.
“Our family’s task now is not simply to preserve my father’s memory,” said Marina Marcial, his eldest daughter and president of Emeralds International.
“It is to preserve his immeasurable contribution to history and honor the collection of one-of-a kind rare gems he carefully curated over his lifetime. These are the only ones of their kind on the entire planet.”
While Marina continues to lead the family business, her husband Carl Schutze carries on Marcial de Gomar’s legacy of creating one-of-a-kind jewelry designs.
Marcial de Gomar is remembered as a devoted husband, a loving father, a proud grandfather, and a faithful friend who encouraged those around him to ask questions, to seek understanding, to appreciate beauty, and to practice integrity, compassion, and service to others.
He is survived by Inge Marcial, his wife of 62 years; his children Michael, Marina (Carl), Luciana, and Nanea; and his grandchildren, Valeria, Manny, Kylan, Zen, Kalea, Romero, and Santi.
A celebration of life was held earlier this year in Charleston, South Carolina.
