Jeweler Gregg Ruth makes annual visit to Southeast Texas

This article was originally published in The Examiner on Jan. 12, 2017.

By Eleanor Skelton
Staff Writer 

Gregg Ruth has been creating designer jewelry for three decades, with stores in New York City and California. He made one of his regular trips to Southeast Texas and Louisiana, visiting Nederland Jewelers in Beaumont on Dec. 21 to meet with local collectors.

Ruth is well known for his colored stones, especially his pink and yellow diamonds. All of his pieces are unique and issued in a limited edition.

“He has been designing jewelry since 1987,” said Gladys Wojcik, owner of Nederland Jewelers in Beaumont. “He has four patents on his diamond settings.”

“We’ve enjoyed a long relationship here [with Nederland Jewelers],” Ruth said. “We’ve
really brought color palate from precious color to fancy diamonds. We look to secure [and] bring special unique items.”

Ruth held one of his pieces, explaining that the gem alone is $350,000-400,000 retail value.

“That’s only a 2 karat stone, but because the blues are so rare, that makes the price just a whole lot,” he said.

Ron Risinger, an orthodontist who has been practicing locally since 1999, is one of Ruth’s collectors in Southeast Texas.\

“I started collecting his stuff before I ever met him,” Risinger said in an interview with The Examiner. “Gladys and Paul introduced me to the collection, and we just fell in love with it. I will buy two or three pieces a year, especially when he comes into town.

“I’ve kind of developed a friendship with him. He has an appreciation for fine detail in jewelry because of his own profession, he said, explaining that often dental school students make gold jewelry, as well as crowns, as part of their coursework.

“I think all of the wax jewelry designs that we would cast, and you can appreciate the delicacy what he does,” Risinger said. “His stuff is real timeless, contemporary. Our granddaughter will have them one day and continue wearing them.”

Ruth recently sold his New York-based company, Gregg Ruth, and is now running another company in California, GGR Jewels.

His pieces are available to view at Nederland Jewelers in Beaumont, Nederland and Lake Charles.