Montana Gems of Philipsburg

Ari GB

2023-12

I love getting my hands dirty and it was so worth it even if it was 30 degrees outside.I bought the $45 bag to search and I did find sapphires, quartz and agate.I really enjoyed the store and the experience I had was amazing of panning for treasures. The shop itself has so my different items to buy and the jewelry is so fabulous.

Jeremiah Thompson

2024-05

We bought a bag of dirt for $45 and had a blast searching through it. The crazy thing is we found a ton of sapphires and even a single stone that has already been appraised to value almost $4000 on it's own. Now I can honestly tell you we loved doing it with or without this incredible find. Our daughter found the 4.41 karat sapphire so it makes it even more amazing for us. Anyways lot's of fun and just proves you never know what you might fine. It was our first time so I'm sure beginner's luck was involved :)

Jon Dinchak

2023-09

Had a lot of fun, staff was great. In hindsight probably would do the normal bag and not the seeded one. We had a great time but it took a bit to learn how to spot the sapphires.

Jenn Gai

2024-04

My mother sent 2 different orders to me for my birthday. I have had so much fun with this. Highly recommended visiting or ordering from Montana Gems. I'm still learning what I am doing and looking for, but it is interesting and fun. If I ever get to Montana, I will certainly make a stop here.

Katie Whitestone

2022-05

Great messy experience for kids of all ages and their parents too! Various rock bags and price ranges to meet all needs/wants. We loved the water trough and found lots of fun gems, stones, fossils and shark teeth! Plus the kids get to take home a geode to crack open. I guess it is bath night again. Must do while in town!

Ruth Clark

2018-05

We loved this place! I did a lot of research and had originally planned to go to the gem place across the street. I am so happy I did the research!Montana Gems is a 'mom and pop' operation. They offer virgin gravel to search through and a variety of gravels with different things to find. Perfect family fun and just as pefect for any group! We will be ordering gravel to have fun with at home! The family and employees are wonderful!

Megan Melanson

2024-03

I ordered a box of mine dirt from their website and had an issue with it. I emailed them and they got back to me within a day and resolved the issue. Amazing customer service, fun product, I highly recommend.

Julie Andino

2023-08

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Amanda Alonzo

2022-05

Really cool place! Beautiful jewelry. I recommend checking it out. Go panning for saffires and other cool things. Staff are friendly and welcoming.

Julie Fleming

2021-05

We had so much fun at Montana Gems this summer and found many beautiful sapphires in a variety of colors. We decided to have several cut and polished and Anna made a custom cuff bracelet for me that I just love! We plan to take family and friends to Montana Gems soon.

Annie Zenner

2023-08

Thank you Montana Gems for making our experience great! Born and raised in Montana but this is the first time taking my kids and the grandmas to mine for Sapphires. My 16 year old bought his own bag and ended up with over 8 karats worth of Sapphires. He chose to get two cut and will make jewelry out of them. Thank you for your friendly atmosphere and also great staff!

Kathleen Thompson

2020-05

Buy a $20 bag of dirt and rocks and spend 30+ minutes mining for sapphire! We ended up buying a second bag and staying for an hour or so. We all had a great time. The customer service is fantastic, and the employees all seem to genuinely enjoy doing what they do.

Kristen Musick

2023-05

We had SO much fun! The staff were all extremely friendly and helpful and patient with my chatterbox children 😀. We found some really cool rocks and sapphires and the kids had the best time panning. Highly recommend and will definitely do again!

Michael J. Richard

2023-05

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Andrew Goodwin

2023-05

I ordered a necklace for my girlfriend for her birthday, and she had some issues with it. I reached out to the company and they responded immediately, going above and beyond in a way that exceeded my highest expectations. Beautiful jewelry, EXCEPTIONAL customer service. 6 stars out of 5!

G Posner8

2023-05

I had absolutely no intention of pawing around through mounds of wet rock. That lasted five minutes. What great fun. Even for someone who considers rocks and pebbles to be a nuisance found in your shoes. The staff are super. The owner is a gem, get it? Gem? ;-DThis is a great experience and one you should not miss.

leafeyeta

2022-05

Did the river bag with sapphires. Spent about 2 hours here looking for Sapphires. I had a lot of fun and found several. The employees were all nice and fun to talk to. The instructions were pretty good.If you like spending a lot of time looking through rocks like I do, the river bag is the one for you. If you want to find some cool stuff from around the world they have a loaded bag. There's also smaller bags if you have less time or kids.

Amanda V

2021-05

Was just there last week (sept 3) everyone was so nice! We got 6 bags of dirt to go through at home. Also bought a unique sapphire band to replace my old ring and one for my husband. I love it everyone has asked where I got it from and I tell them Montana Gems! We found at least 30 sapphires between 2 bags and still have the rest to go through. My kids loved going there we will be back!

Lisa Larkin

2022-05

I took my young adult daughter here because she loves this sort of stuff. She got a bag that had some sapphires in it. She happily went through it for hours. Montana Gems of Philipsburg has a great set-up. You go into the street-level store first and choose the type of bag you want to go through. They have some great loaded bags for kids. Once you buy your bag, you take it outside and downstairs to the screening area. The workers there show you what to do and what you're looking for. They have all the supplies you need. When you are done, they go through what is left just to make sure you didn't accidently leave anything good behind. There are plenty of tables to sit at. Some are in the sun, and some are in the shade. When the weather is hot, they have misters that cool things off nicely. One of the misters was a little vigorous, so we moved to the other end of the table so we wouldn't be drenched. Just so you are prepared, be aware that your clothes will most likely get a little dirty, depending on the type of bag you get. It's just dirt and clay, though. It'll wash out. When you are done, you take your treasures back up to the store where they will evaluate your gems. You can choose to have some fired to bring the colors out more. They tell you the cost, then you can decide. It's quite reasonably priced. They also tell you which ones can be cut, and you can choose to have that done, or just take the gems home as they are. If you get them cut, they ship them to you in 3-6 months.My daughter had a great time here, and she's already planning her next visit.

Marina Saettone

2022-05

Gotta agree with most posts for this place. Super helpful, high integrity, they want you to be happy and walk away with lots of sapphires. Well, not exactly, they will tell you which sapphires you found will with stand heat treating and which ones won’t. They will offer you to have them heat treated and they do have a very good rate for that. No need to shop around. It does take 3 months once the heat treating place has enough to do the process. So you won’t walk out with those but you will walk out with the rest. I ended up with 6 to heat treat and 8 to not. Those are lovely too and I plan to incorporate them into jewelry as well. I’ve heard bad stories about the place across the street but no personal experience so I can’t dis them but I’d recommend Montana Gems for sure. I also bought a gorgeous ring there with local Montana stones.

Danyelle Dohr

2023-07

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Janice Combs

2021-05

So much fun we went back for a second day! What an awesome fun way to spend the day, we found several very nice gems and will be back. The young men that helped check our slag for missed gems were awesome and so much fun to chat with while searching for gems. The owners are wonderful and we will be back to mine more and get our gems cut.

Misty Brown

2021-05

This wasn't on my list of places to stop but when you're traveling with a rock loving kiddo you end up at places like this. I thoroughly enjoyed the time spent here from entry to exit. The staff was very helpful and nice. Pretty sure I had the pleasure of talking with the owner as well and she was great. I never thought soriting through yuck would be so relaxing. I even walked out with a few decent gems.

Noah Wright

2019-05

I ordered a bag from Montana gems and let me tell you it was great! The customer service was super super friendly and quick. They accommodated me and helped me find a solution to a problem I was having with my package. The shipping was super fast. The gems are beautiful and I even panned out the classified material and found gold! All in all the experience was wonderful and everything about Montana gems is perfect! I will definitely be buying from them again! Loved every part of the experience!

Lithien 7

2019-05

Excellent time. I really enjoyed my day looking for treasures. Staff is very knowledgeable and even goes through your rocks after you just in case you missed anything. How did I do? I found a 5.84 carat Montana sapphire! In addition I also walked away with several nice small stones and great fossils. Gift shop had great Christmas gifts for a few people. Go you will have a great experience to always remember.

Mel-Mel H

2020-05

Came here for the first time ever on Monday the 4th 2020 with my wife and kid. We drove for just over an hour and was it worth it! The wonderful woman at the counter was so knowledgeable and so sweet! The area to wash your stones was just right, always had plenty of room! Such a beautiful and peaceful way to enjoy a family day. I bought about 80 bucks worth of dirt and we found so many sapphires. Can't wait to go back again!

Gordon Lister

2019-05

Great spot to camp and mine. We stayed 2 days got over 60 carats of cut-able Sapphires. One was over 4 carats alone. Staff were super friendly and helpful. Prices reasonable. Our goal was to find at least one or two nice Sapphires for a wedding ring who's gems we found ourselves. Mission accomplished 10x! Only one down side... it is so fun and addictive you will want to come back again and again. Thank you Gem Mountain!

Kathy Sutherland

2023-05

So exciting watching people find real GEMS! Shop was adorable and family owners were so kind and informative. Bought beautiful earrings at a fabulous price!

Carolyn Ori

2023-08

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Carrie Malakowsky

2020-05

Love visiting Montana Gems! Good prices on the different gravels. Great prices on gem cutting. The kids love playing in the wash area and sluice.Anna is an awesome lady! So knowledgeable and fun to talk to!We visit at least once a year and we'll keep coming back!