Gem News Sources

[PinkDiamond]

Gary Roskin has just put out The Roskin Gem News Report, which looks promising. You can check it out and subscribe here:

http://www.roskingemnews.com/

[PinkDiamond]

Richard Hughes of Thaigem.com posted a link to this historical piece in his new BlingThing newsletter. Thank you Richard! Have you ever wondered what the story is behind the Black Prince's Ruby? Well wonder no more:

"Thaigem.com's Blingologist-in-Chief, Richard Hughes spent years poring over dusty tomes from the bowels of the world's libraries to unearth the tale of this extraordinary gem…

Few precious stones have such a long and storied history as the Black Prince's ruby, a large, semi-polished, crimson orb that today sits on the front of Britain's Imperial State Crown. The following account from Richard Hughes' Ruby & Sapphire tells the tale of this extraordinary gem."

The Black Prince's Ruby
http://www.thaigem.com/gemopedia/famous ... s-ruby.asp

Enjoy!!

[PinkDiamond]

Another gem (pun intended) from Richard Hughes' newsletter at RUBY-SAPPHIRE.COM

What do I do on my holidays? I go to the ends of the earth in search of the precious stone. Then I bring them home and the fun starts all over. Read about some of my recent adventures below:

Sorcerers and Sapphires: A visit to Madagascar
http://www.ruby-sapphire.com/madagascar ... pphire.htm

Enjoy!

[PinkDiamond]

$65 million in jewelry stolen from London store
By RAPHAEL G. SATTER Associated Press Writer The Associated Press
Tuesday, August 11, 2009 12:50 PM EDT

"LONDON (AP) — Two well-dressed thieves walked into a London Bond Street jewelry store last week and, after brandishing handguns at shop workers, made off with $65 million worth of gems in one of Britain's biggest jewelry heists, police said Tuesday...."

http://www.myembarq.com/news/read.php?r ... CCL1_UNEWS


And some very sad news:

AGTA Member Campbell Bridges Murdered in Kenya
PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Adam Graham For Immediate Release
800-972-1162 August 11, 2009

Campbell Bridges Murdered at Mine in Kenya

Aug 11, 2009 – Dallas, TX: The American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) has learned that Campbell Bridges of Tsavorite USA, Inc., and the individual credited with discovering Tsavorite, was murdered at his mining camp in Kenya. His son Bruce was also attacked and sustained serious, but not life threatening, injuries.
Campbell is survived by his wife Judith, son Bruce and daughter Laura. Privacy is requested by the family at this time, so please keep phone calls and emails to a minimum until further notice. Condolences may be sent to gems@tsavorite.com

[PinkDiamond]

As reported in my previous post, Campbell Bridges was savagely murdered on his mining claim in Kenya, and the locals seem to want to sweep it under the rug instead of bringing his killers to justice. But there's a way you can help do something about that.

There is a petition urging the State Department to pressure the Kenyan government to continue searching for Campbell's murderers, and not stop at the 6 or so they have arrested. Here's more on the story, and his life, that shows how important this man was to the industry, and why he will be sorely missed:

Campbell Bridges, 1937-2009
By Cynthia Unninayar

Waves of shock and grief reverberated through the international gemological community on August 11, 2009 when word started coming out of Kenya that the legendary British-born geologist and ICA Director Campbell Bridges had been brutally murdered near one of his mines in the Taita Taveta District in Tsavo National Park. In only a few days, Campbell would have celebrated his 72nd birthday...

http://www.gemstone.org/gem-news/gem-ne ... idges.html

...and from other unknown sources:
QUOTE
"According to witnesses, a group of about 20 people used a knife to stab the deceased. We believe, according to our investigations, that his death was a result of a mining dispute involving the deceased and the locals."

His son Bruce, and four Kenyan employees, were passengers in the truck but none were seriously injured.

Bruce Bridges blamed the attack on a dispute with local miners who, he said, were illegally digging for gems on the family's 600 hectare (1,482 acre) concession.

"My men were cut to ribbons and I took a panga [machete] to the neck," he told the Times newspaper. "It was an ambush."

Speaking from Nairobi, where he fled with his father's body, Bridges said the attack occurred as the party drove towards their mining camp. "We found huge thorn trees blocking the road. Eight men with machetes, spears, clubs, knives, bows and arrows appeared, shouting 'We're going to kill you all!' Then more people came down the mountain, like ants – 20 or 30 of them."

Bridges said his father was stabbed before the attackers were driven back. "I looked down and he didn't look good, he was pale and I knew it was bad. I put him in the back of the truck and drove as fast as I could to the hospital," he said. His father was pronounced dead at a clinic in Voi.

Campbell Bridges, who worked for the Central Mining and Investment Corporation with many interests in Africa, was a colourful figure. He was credited with discovering tsavorite – a brilliant dark green gemstone – in the 1960s on the nearby border with Tanzania. According to gem world mythology, he was walking in the countryside when a buffalo charged him and to save his life he leaped into a gully – where he noticed a gleam of green in a rocky outcrop. He was unable to extract a sample in the panic of the moment, was then transferred to another area, and it took him seven years to rediscover the gem, which is as hard as but rarer than emeralds.

His Tanzanian mines were nationalised in the 1970s, and he moved his operations to Kenya – where he studied geological records and located tsavorite again. Initially he lived in a tree house, and claimed to have set a python to watch over the first gems he found. He kept a pair of leopards instead of guard dogs. He was also a special consultant to the famous New York jewellers Tiffany & Co.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We can confirm the death of Campbell Bridges on 11 August following injuries sustained in an attack near Voi in Kenya.

"As his immediate next of kin is American, the US officials are providing consular assistance. We are in close contact with them and offering our full support.

"British consular officials are liaising with the local authorities who have confirmed that an investigation is under way."

QUOTE
Despite being born in Scotland, one friend described Mr Bridges as a “true son of Africa”. Raised in Zimbabwe and South Africa because his Scottish father worked as a geologist for the diamond exploration firm De Beers. He completed his doctorate in geology at Wiswatersrand University in Johannesburg.

He made his fame and fortune from the most famous and important new gem finds of the twentieth century.

He introduced tanzanite, a deep-blue zoisite gemstone, to the US market, prompting a major promotional campaign by Tiffany. He also discovered tsavorite, a type of luminous green garnet, in the Tanzanian bushland.

His search for gems continued to Kenya, where he lived in a treehouse to avoid wild animal attacks and reportedly used a python to guard his gemstones from light-fingered local workers.

Tributes poured in yesterday as news of the geologist’s death spread around the gem world. One close friend, Robert Nicoletti, described Mr Bridges’s murder as “an act of evil that is unfathomable”.

American writer, Richard Wise, recalled visiting his friend shortly after a break-in at his office, when millions of pounds worth of tsavorite had been stolen. He said: “That was a loss that would have staggered most men, it hardly even slowed Campbell Bridges down. That was the measure of the man.”

Brian Jackson, chairman of the Scottish Gemological Association, met him during his last visit to Scotland in 1999. “He was very enthusiastic, very sharing. He contributed a lot, not just through gemology, but he used that to fund other areas of support and conservation issues,” he said.


Please sign the petition for Campbell Bridges, or e-mail the State Department as soon as possible if you appreciate what this man did, and ultimately gave his life for. Don't leave his murderers to kill again, and don't let his death be in vain. I encourage everyone to sign the petition and let the State Department know you want action. They're the ones who can bring pressure on the Kenyan government to launch a proper investigation to bring the killers to justice.

Here's your chance to be heard, and the more voices, the better chance there will be justice for this fine man and his family. I was the 162nd signature on the petition for "Justice for Campbell Bridges", and I'm asking you to sign it to help reach the goal of at least 1,000 signatures. I care deeply about this issue and hope you'll support this effort.

Sign the Petition for Campbell Bridges here:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/130/just ... ll-bridges

Thank you all so much.

[Gemjunkie]

>170

[PinkDiamond]

Thanks Gemjunkie, and thanks to all who signed and didn't let us know what number they were. Last I heard today it was up to 287.

[PinkDiamond]

From The Sunday Times
August 16, 2009
Kenya gemstone killers ‘protected by police’
Tristan McConnell

"Bruce claimed local police ignored death threats relayed to them over the past 18 months and, on the day of the attack, refused to give him and his father an escort despite reports that a roadblock was being built close to their mine.

He added that just weeks before the ambush six illegal miners were arrested after ignoring an eviction order but were released without charge after phone calls from politicians and senior police officers... "

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 797849.ece

[Gemjunkie]

It's the sort of thing better publicized on tourism sites, where it would probably generate more economic pressure.

[PinkDiamond]

Not a bad idea at all, Gemjunkie!

Here are some great ideas to perk up business:
9 Ways to Advertise for Free
August 14, 2009
By Suzanne Driscoll

"When sales slump due to a slow economy, a business owners first inclination is often to cut the marketing budget. After all, one has fixed costs and cash flow can be irregular. But marketing should be the last activity you eliminate or you risk an even faster downward spiral. Advertising your business and attracting new customers should be an ongoing process, and there are many things you can do that cost absolutely nothing. In these times money might be tight but the need for revenue is continuous, here are just a few suggestions...."

http://www.smsmallbiz.com/marketing/9_W ... _Free.html

And this is heartwarming, and a pat on the back for the industry:
CULTIVATING SUCCESS: African women visit Newport to learn jewelry making, boost incomes
By Linda Murphy
Special to The Herald News
Posted Aug 16, 2009 @ 01:07 AM

"Their workstation, in the back room of the Bellevue Avenue jewelry store Three Golden Apples in Newport, is about as far away as one could get from their native rural villages on the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar, where the average household income is $100 a year.
Drake’s apprentices for the week, Ali and Abdalla, members of the Zanzibar Women’s Pearl Shellfish Cooperative, are learning to craft jewelry from the mabe half pearls they cultivate offshore in the Indian Ocean...."

http://www.heraldnews.com/lifestyle/x77 ... st-incomes

[PinkDiamond]

Some more good news, but they need to arrest all 30 perps, and not stop at just the ringleader.

Report: Man arrested in Bridges slaying
August 19, 2009

"Khaemba told the news organization that the suspect was the chairman of small-scale miners in the area and led the group that attacked Bridges over a mining dispute..."

http://www.nationaljewelernetwork.com/n ... 7caf4befc3

[PinkDiamond]

I was the 162nd signature on the petition for "Justice for Campbell Bridges", and I'm asking you to sign it to help reach the goal of at least 1,000 signatures. I care deeply about this issue and hope you'll support this effort.

Sign the Petition for Campbell Bridges here:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/130/just ... ll-bridges

Thank you all so much.

Bringing this forward so more will sign. We're half way there with 507 signatures last time I heard. Great going y'all!!!

[PinkDiamond]

Over 571 signatures, so please spread the word so they can reach their goal of 1,000.

And In The News

This one is too bizarre:

New Jersey Store Owner Died From Cyanide Poisoning
"Police were initially unsure if Bhalla died from a heart attack or from exposure to cyanide, which is used in jewelry cleaning. Police had found a container with 4 to 5 ounces of cyanide in a back room of the store...."
http://www.jckonline.com/article/328082 ... d=15114325

[PinkDiamond]

From Colored Stone:

"Given Kenya’s recent history of ethnic violence, election turmoil and economic corruption, it seems miraculous that famed Scottish mining geologist Campbell Bridges, who discovered the green grossular garnet known as tsavorite, survived as long as he did. Despite having his claim to a tsavorite mine upheld by the Kenyan court system after a three-year legal battle, Bridges, his son and two bodyguards were ambushed on the way to that mine by a machete-, spear- and knife-wielding mob on Tuesday, August 11th. Bridges, 72, perished from his wounds. The murder, his son has said in numerous interviews, wouldn’t have happened if Bridges’ pleas for local police protection after receiving repeated death threats had been heeded.
(See this BBC News article.) As condolences pour in from a grief-stricken industry, it might be time to try to put this tragedy in a wider context of African geo-politics. Who was behind the murder? What business factions and/or economic interests sent armed men to attack Bridges—and why? Is this the only incident of its kind? Or is there a history of such violence in the gem mining trade that ranges across a wider gamut of industries? These questions need to be asked and a determination to answer them honestly made the basis of the truest and most lasting memorial for the slain geologist. In the meantime, click here for a moving, eloquent appreciation of Bridges by author-gemologist-geologist Joel Arem..."

http://www.colored-stone.com/stories/se ... ridges.cfm

Over 600 signatures and needing more:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/130/just ... ll-bridges

[PinkDiamond]

KP Not Suspending Zimbabwe
JCK Staff -- JCK Online, August 25, 2009

"Zimbabwe will not face suspension from the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, despite the alleged ongoing human rights abuses at the Chiadzwa diamond fields, according to a SW Radio Africa report...

Zimbabwe's Parliament has opened an investigation into alleged human rights abuses and illegal activities at the Chiadzwa diamonds fields, according to another news report.

A Kimberley Process review mission visited the country in July and found evidence of human rights abuses and recommended a ban on Zimbabwe's diamond trading for at least 6 months...."

http://www.jckonline.com/article/328843 ... d=15114325