Noema Gems was brought into being back in 1987. The owners Ron & Mary Ann Schanfish were at that time attending a chimney sweep convention in New England, and stopped off in Oxford County Maine to look up the boyhood home of a favorite author, where we stumbled upon one of the famous pegmatite tourmaline mines [the nubble, I think it was]. We walked out of the woods unto the old mine road and were dazzled by the bright sunlight shining off of the thousands of sheets of mica dropped off the trucks fifty years before. We were hooked! We came back home, bought the remnants of several rock shops, purchased a store front, and were off and running. Since then we have added gem shows, mail order, and now internet service to Noema Gems. Take a look around our web site, and see if you can't find something of interest. New items and whole new sections are added regularly, so do stop back often. Thank you from Ron & Mary Ann Schanfish - Noema Gems