The Pimp Stones collection was assembled by my father, John Ekstrom, primarily during repeated trips through the 1970s to what was then Ceylon, now Sri Lanka.

He was a serious collector, an active member of the Swedish Gemmological Society, and travelled to source stones directly from artisan miners and traditional cutters — relationships that lasted decades.

Most stones in the collection were hand-cut by Sri Lankan artisans of that era. These cuts prioritise carat retention and have a personal, slightly irregular character that machine-cut modern stones lack. We see this as part of the appeal, not a defect.

Crucially, the collection predates the modern treatment industry. In the 1970s, high-temperature heat treatment was not yet routine in Sri Lanka, and the diffusion, glass-filling, and chemical processes that dominate today's market did not exist. Stones from this period are, with very few exceptions, untreated and entirely natural.

These stones have been kept together as a single private collection for nearly fifty years. We are now releasing them, one by one, with full provenance and — where the stone warrants it — independent laboratory verification from Lotus Gemology and GIT Bangkok.