Since the 1960s · Ceylon to Sydney
Three Generations. One Unbroken Journey.
Most gem houses buy their stones. Ours digs them. Ministry of Gems® stands on three generations of one family working the gem fields of Ceylon — from the first workings in the 1960s to the vaults, ateliers and screens of today. This page is that journey, told plainly.
The Gem Fields
It begins underground, in Sri Lanka — the island the gem trade has called Ceylon for centuries, source of the world's most storied sapphires. Our family works its own mining ground there: the shafts, the washing of illam gravel, the first glint of blue in a sieve. This is not a supplier relationship; it is the family's own earth. It is why "mine to market" on our pages is a literal description, not a slogan — and you can watch it, unedited, in our film series Echoes from the Mine.
The Craft
A stone is only half the story; the other half is the discipline of knowing it. Every gemstone we sell is examined in-house by our FGAA-qualified gemmologist, Anna Lulinkova — Fellow of the Gemmological Association of Australia — and our rule is candour before romance: treatment is disclosed on every stone, in writing, in our live Treatment Register. From lost-wax casting to the finished setting, the making itself is on film in From Wax to Gold.
The House Today
The third generation brought the journey to Australia. Ministry of Gems® is Sydney-based and Australian owned and operated, with private viewings by appointment, a registered trade mark held to 2031, and a flagship at ministryofgems.com.au carrying Ceylon and Australian sapphires, Australian opals and fine jewellery — each significant stone with its own Digital Gemstone Passport.
The Future We Are Building
Heritage is not a museum; it compounds. In 2026 we opened the whole of our library to the world: twenty-four volumes of gemmology, free to read and free to keep, written and reviewed by our own gemmologist and published with the evidence attached. Three generations gave us the stones and the knowledge; our work is making both impossible to doubt. We call it Owning Future History™.
Visit us — book a private viewing · Follow a stone from mine to market