The professional biography:

Evan Caplan is widely considered to be one of the finest and knowledgeable colored stone professionals of our time. It all began back in the 1980’s when a friend, who was in the business of colored stones, needed some help for a few days. This was Mr. Caplan’s introduction to the unique and beautiful world of rare stones and he developed a serious interest in them. Interest, however, was not enough. Knowledge was needed so he began his studies at the Gemological Institute of America, the worlds leading school of Gemology and quickly achieved its highest degree of Graduate Gemologist.

Originally trained as a jazz musician, he studied at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston and later found that the great sensitivity and artistry needed for contemporary jazz seemed to allow him to move quickly and easily into his new world of rare and exotic stones. His desire for greater knowledge and direct access to stones led him to travel and grow business relationships in Burma, Thailand, Brazil, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, India and many other sources of stones. Mr. Caplan was one of the first people to bring the unique Paraiba tourmaline to America. He, along with several others, was responsible for the cutting and eventual sale of the world’s largest Padparadscha sapphire.

As his reputation grew, collectors, followed by curators from major museums, began to visit his small office located in Los Angeles. With the passage of time he found himself attracted, again and again, to a unique, beautiful and extremely rare stone called Alexandrite. Alexandrite often exhibits a color change from red to green but can also show a cat’s eye effect. On very rare occasions, both phenomena can occur in the same stone. It is one of the world’s most interesting stones. Now,at the pinnacle of his long career, Mr. Caplan has become a leading authority on Alexandrite and often lectures on this truly remarkable gem.

The abstract of the talks

The Magic of Alexandrite, I will discuss several aspects of Alexandrite. We’ll talk about the history, color change, origin and one or two brief stories about some of my most memorable experiences in working with Alexandrite.