The “Daughters of the Deep” earrings with 7.23 carats of indicolite tourmaline were made by Madison Carlson of Stuller Inc. They were one of the author’s favorite entries at the 2026 AGTA Spectrum and Cutting Edge Awards. (Photo courtesy of Stuller)
The annual AGTA Spectrum and Cutting Edge Awards is a window into the minds of today’s most innovative jewelry designers, precision cutters, and gemstone connoisseurs.
While Cutting Edge highlights fine loose stones, Spectrum offers a more expansive playing field, encouraging designers to create with colored gemstones of various qualities, all without compromising craftsmanship.
The contest inherently contains an element of discovery, which is something like heaven for a gemstone editor.
This year at Editor’s Day, which took place late last month in Dallas, I encountered a rare pink mineral called Poudretteite for the first time ever.
To add to the wonder, it was fantasy cut, faceted by Lee Haynes of LWH Gems.
To me, this is Spectrum in a nutshell: you think you’re looking at something remarkable, and it turns out there’s yet another layer to its singularity, like the winning piece, a 101-carat Paraiba tourmaline carved to look like Medusa that lights up.
Across the 400-plus entries, it was awe-inspiring pieces like this that’ve stuck with me.
Here are my seven favorites from the 2026 AGTA Spectrum and Cutting Edge Awards.
The “Aurelia” Earrings
Nolan Sponsler and Somewhere In The Rainbow Gem & Jewelry Collection’s “Aurelia” earrings featuring marquise-shaped banded sapphires totaling 7.56 carats accented by 1.53 carats of diamonds
The “Aurelia” earrings were one of the first pieces I looked at and ended up being one of my favorite entries from the entire contest.
I am a big sucker for a marquise cut, which led me to pick them up initially.
When I held them up to the light, it illuminated the matching banded sapphires, and I audibly gasped.
This special sapphire pair, in an elegant 18-karat yellow gold and platinum setting, is a piece anyone would be lucky to have.
The “Daughters of the Deep” Earrings
The author wearing Madison Carlson’s “Daughters of the Deep” earrings. The earrings are made in 14-karat white gold and feature elongated cushion-cut blue indicolite tourmalines totaling 7.23 carats, accented by cultured pearls and diamonds.
Another image of the earrings, which also are featured at the top of the article
Indicolite tourmaline has long been one of my favorite gemstones. I have always found its rich teal color to be both dominating and compelling.
In this piece, however, the curved setting and soft pearls give it a powerful feminine energy.
With sparkling diamond accents, this is a glamorous pair of earrings I’d love to see incorporated into a red-carpet look.
Color-Change Magnesio Axinites
Jaimeen Shah of Prima Gems USA’s set of color-change magnesio axinite totaling 9.65 carats from the same rough. The blueish-violet gem fluoresces bright pink under UV light, as seen at right.
Magnesio axinite was another first for me; I hadn’t ever seen it before Editor’s Day.
According to Jaimeen Shah of Prima Gems USA, it is considered one of the 10 rarest stones in the world.
To his knowledge, these are two of the largest faceted, loupe-clean magnesio axinite stones. They were cut from a piece of large, “awkward” piece of rough discovered in Tanzania in November 2013, which the supplier claims is one of the largest magnesio axinite crystals ever found.
Naturally, the stones were submitted in the Phenomenal category.
The way it fluoresces under UV is unreal. I was weak in the knees!
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The “Firefly” Ring One thing I look for at Spectrum is unique combinations of colored stones.
I was not surprised to see that one of my favorite examples of this was submitted by Robert Guild Jewelry, a brand that loves working with rare stones like kornerupine, clinohumite, and grandidierite.
The “Firefly” ring features a 1.88-carat shield-shaped kornerupine for the head, 7.81 carats of morganite for the wings, a 10.89-carat oval cabochon tourmaline body that seems to glow, and sapphire, grandidierite, and diamond accents.
Of several incredible animal jewels on the judging table, the playful color palette in this piece enchanted me.
A “Dragon’s Trove” of Zircons
Jenna Sloane’s “Dragon’s Trove” suite of nine brilliant egg-cut zircons totaling 73.81 carats
Another favorite was Jenna Sloane’s “Dragon’s Trove,” a colorful suite of zircons from around the world.
Each was crafted in her signature “Egg” cut, which also inspired the suite’s name, giving the entry a fantastical twist that I appreciated.
“I like to believe that dragons like to collect treasures, and I picture them taking interest in egg-shaped gemstones,” she explained to National Jeweler.
The “Glorious Betta” brooch Everything about this Betta fish brooch was indeed glorious.
Made by Jeffrey Bilgore in collaboration with carver Dalan Hargrave, the piece was hand carved and fabricated, with design development spanning a three-year period.
The platinum brooch features a 42.38-carat jelly opal accented by sapphires, demantoid garnets, apatites, and diamonds.
Its vibrant, sparkling fins and the color play in its gel-like opal body perfectly reflect the shimmering of a colorful Betta fish underwater.
The “Strawberry Fields Forever” ring
Eddie Sakamoto and Somewhere In The Rainbow Gem & Jewelry Collection’s 18-karat yellow gold “Strawberry Fields Forever” ring featuring a 5.55-carat natural red oval spinel accented by 0.27 carats of diamonds
When designer Eddie Sakamoto passed earlier this year, I had the honor of writing his obituary for National Jeweler.
Though I never met him, Shelly Sergent of Somewhere In The Rainbow Gem & Jewelry Collection shared with me his approach to the craft, which often included the use of negative space and architectural elements.
Both are evident in this sculptural gold ring, which holds a striking red spinel weighing 5.55 carats.
I love a nice, round carat weight like 5.55 because it scratches something in my brain. But beyond that, I can’t help but think of how, in numerology, 555 is associated with transformation.
I find this particularly apt for Eddie, a humble artist who loved design in all forms and simply sought to create innovative, beautiful things that could speak for themselves.
