Craig Sperling was 9 years old living in Queens, NY. Craig’s great grandmother, “Nana Essie” handed Craig a shoe box of costume and fashion jewelry pieces and told Craig “go and sell this wonderful jewelry… we can use the money.” Craig returned hours later with most of the jewelry and about $0.78 cents.

 Craig returned to Los Angeles and went to work for a diamond manufacturing company based in Belgium with offices in Germany & Los Angeles. Two years later, Craig purchased a majority interest in the company “International Diamonds and Gold.” Craig established a major clientele of diamond dealers, independent wholesalers, mom and pop retailers and to some of the largest national chain retail jewelry stores in the United States selling loose diamonds, diamond shows and services. At the same time Craig became very active in charitable organizations for youths, educational organizations and particularly The City of Hope and its fundraising activities. In 1984, Craig was one of the youngest recipient ever to receive “The City of Hope” – ‘Spirit of Life Award’ for his fundraising contributions.

Towards the end of this decade, Craig was traveling the world learning all about jewelry manufacturing. With that eagerness to continue learning, Craig established an appraisal & gem ID company to the trade, currently known as “AGA” –  American Gemological Appraisals and Gem Lab.