Our story · Est. 1997
Twenty-nine years of reading the earth.
What began as one gemology bench and a borrowed field kit is now a two-division geoscience house. The bench became a vault; the field kit became a survey crew, a drill program and a laboratory. The standard never changed: say what is true, and prove it.
How it began
In 1997, Mrs. Haldorson opened a single gemology bench in Meridian, Idaho — a loupe, a ledger and a reputation to build. Jewelers came for stones that were exactly what she said they were. They stayed because she never once said otherwise.
Then the questions changed. A jeweler's brother was buying land and asked what lay under it. A builder asked about bearing soil. A prospector asked for an honest read on his claim. Mrs. Haldorson had spent years training her eye to tell the truth about stones; the ground, she reasoned, deserved the same discipline.
She hired her first field geologist in 2003 and bought her first theodolite with a season's gem profits. The two trades turned out to be one trade: observation, documentation, and the courage to report what you actually found.
Twenty-nine years later, the bench and the field still share the same roof — and the same ledger.
Milestones
1997 to today
1997
The bench
Mrs. Haldorson opens a gemology bench in Meridian, trading certified diamond, emerald and ruby.
2003
Into the field
First land survey commission; the geoscience division is founded.
2009
The laboratory
In-house laboratory opens for gemstone, soil and mineral analysis.
2016
Regional reach
Exploration and consultancy engagements extend across the Pacific Northwest.
2026
Today
Two divisions, one standard of truth — 29 years of continuous practice.
What we hold to
Three working values
Provenance before profit
If we cannot document a stone or a sample, we do not sell it and we do not report on it. No exceptions in twenty-nine years.
Plain-spoken reporting
A report a builder, banker or jeweler can read without a glossary — and defend in a boardroom or a courtroom.
The long relationship
Most of our clients came in the first decade and never left. We measure success in returning footsteps.
The founder
Mrs. Haldorson
Founder & Chief Executive, Haldor Gems & Geosciences
She was seven years old, walking the Snake River with her grandfather, when she pocketed a stone that caught the light. "I never stopped picking up stones," she says. "I just learned to read them."
Today she still grades the house's most important stones herself, and still signs every geoscience report that leaves the building.
“I never wanted to be the biggest house in the trade. Only the one whose word never needs checking.”
— Mrs. Haldorson
Leadership
The people behind the two ledgers
Chief Gemologist
GIA-trained, twenty-two years at the bench. Grades every investment-tier stone before it enters the vault.
Field Operations Lead
Registered professional geologist. Runs every survey and exploration crew from consult to final report.
Laboratory Director
Oversees XRF, microscopy and grading operations, and signs off on chain-of-custody for every sample.
The house today
Bench, field and laboratory
The grading bench
Field crew, Ada County
The laboratory
The archive, since 1997