Baby blue and baby pink iridescent bicolor tourmaline bought in Teófilo Otoni

OK, I admit it! I am a sucker for tourmalines, I really am.

When I saw this baby blue/baby pink bicolor tourmaline, I fell in love. The internal iridescence is just icing on the cake!

"Campbell Bridges 1937–2009: The Bridges' Family Needs Your Help" by Lisa Brooks-Pike, RGA

Dear Readers,

Movies such as "Born Free," "Safari," "King Solomon's Mines," "Mountains of the Moon," "A Nun's Story," "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" (and the book by Hemingway, of course), and "Out of Africa," and the books The Golden Impala, West with the Night, The Lion, The Poisonwood Bible, The Blue Nile, The White Nile, and many others have all informed my images of Africa, although I have never travelled there.

I didn't know Campbell Bridges. I had read only sporadically about him.

But the poignancy in his son's telling of his death, the survivor's remorse, the way we can see that he keeps playing it over in his head, thinking that if only, if only he had done something differently, his beloved father would not have died.

It's heartbreaking.

No one deserves to die like that.

Lisa Brooks-Pike has written a moving article of her interview with Bruce Bridges, and she is appealing to us to step up to the plate and sign the petition for justice for Campbell Bridges in an attempt to move Kenya to act as a nation of law.

Tenney

Campbell Bridges 1937–2009: The Bridges' Family Needs Your Help

by Lisa Brooks-Pike, RGA

It was an honor to meet recently with Bruce Bridges, son of Campbell Bridges, in the office of Tom Elliot, owner of the North American Gemological Laboratory (NAGL). Within moments of Bruce’s arrival, it was clear that he had the same great qualities and values as his father, and his passion for family and Tsavorite is extraordinary. Bruce and his family have suffered great adversity and even greater loss yet Bruce’s dedication to his father’s lifetime of work and to Tsavorite drive him forward with amazing strength and focus.

Bruce’s visit to NAGL was driven by this passion and dedication. He was there to honor Campbell, and protect the Scorpion mine and the brilliant vanadium-bearing grossular garnet known as Tsavorite. Bruce brought with him a carry-on bag filled with the Scorpion Tsavorite selected as the cream of the crop by Campbell before his brutal murder.

Like a child seeing the moon for the first time, I was in awe of the material Bruce carefully laid out on the desk before us. It was all beautiful – perfect in deep green color, expertly cut and meticulously polished. I expected as much from material hand-selected by Campbell Bridges; I did not expect to be equally awed by his son. Bruce knew every detail of every stone as if he had nurtured and raised them as children. He could touch one and with that touch he knew the exact carat weight and every tiny detail of that gem. These stones were special.

Bruce shared the largest gem quality Tsavorite to come out of the Scorpion mine – a 20.24-carat wonder. I held my breath as it lay in my hand. "The Scorpion King," I thought. Equally as impressive was the perfectly matched suite of graduated pear-cut stones that made their way to a center pear worthy of royalty: his Queen.

The 44 best stones were selected, all over 3 carats, all breathtaking. These 44 stones were about to receive a special inscription by Tom to identify them as Tsavorite mined under the watchful eye of Campbell Bridges. Watching the first stone being inscribed to honor Campbell and protect what he had created was a very emotional and moving experience, but paled in comparison to Bruce’s story.

Bruce’s own account of this tragic event was both heartbreaking and infuriating. He spoke of that awful day as a son who has suffered irreversible loss, but also as one who refuses to give up and bravely fights on through his sorrow. When we spoke he informed us that the local government had only one man in custody, even though he and his security team had provided them with the full names and photographs of the attackers. As of this writing, no other has been arrested, and the man in custody has been released.

He spoke of the current status of the Scorpion Mine with very real trepidation; while Bruce is currently paying armed guards to protect the mine, no one is there to work it. Mining has ceased, and he does not know when security will be established to enable mining to resume. "We wait to see if the government will reestablish protection for the legal miners," he says.

To say that there has been little action regarding the apprehension of Campbell’s murderers would be a gross understatement. There has been some misinformation regarding the identity of the attackers. While some published reports convey the idea that the attackers were locals, Bruce’s own words in his interview with the BBC say something different. Taken from the interview: "There were several politicians, that for their own greed, funded bandits, gangsters and these criminals, and it's the criminal, it's criminals that we fought with, not farmers. The people that murdered my father were known criminals." In fact, Bruce told me that "the vast majority of attackers were Kenyan Somalis with a couple local gangsters."

Bruce has sought the aid of the British and U.S. embassies, but has been informed by both that without a direct invitation by the Kenyan government, they cannot intervene. Tsavorite U.S.A. has sponsored a petition aimed at creating some forward movement and bringing more attention to this tragedy. As of right now, they need only 22 additional signers to reach their goal of one thousand.

I would like to personally urge anyone who has taken the time to read this article to click on the link, sign the petition, and help to bring to justice the murderers of a man who did so much for so many, without asking anything in return.

UPDATE: the petition has reached its goal of 1,000 signatures -- thanks to everyone!

Please click here and sign the petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/130/justice-for-campbell-bridges

Bruce Bridges' interview with BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8199627.stm

Update:

From Bruce Bridges: "Three men have been arrested and one man released. None of these men are the masterminds but mid to lower tier in the murder, yet are all involved."

Article published online at the site of the Jewelers Ethics Association:

http://www.jewelersethicsassociation.com/news

Kicking myself in the posterior again -- Andalusite becoming very rare in Teófilo Otoni

Does anyone still remember when andalusite was a humble stone, unworthy of great consideration?

Sigh......

Oh! The stones I could have bought for mere centavos a few years ago.

[That was until IBAMA, the Brazilian environmental protection agency, decided to shut down the mine because it was polluting the area.]

To be continued...

Faceted Green Amber for Sale in Teófilo Otoni -- Part II

A few months back, I wrote a post about the faceted green amber I had seen in Teófilo Otoni, earlier this year.

I am happy to report that some of the best pieces were still at the dealer's office when I went to see him, yesterday, and I am going to break down and buy one of these incredible beauties (for study purposes, of course!).

For those of you who have not seen the first post, here is the link:

http://gringa-gem-news.blogspot.com/2009/06/faceted-green-amber-for-sale-in-teofilo.html

Right now, I have only very bad photos that don't come anywhere near to showing the wonderful liquid green-gold lights bouncing off those facets -- here is what I have, but I will post new photos once I get back to Conquista and am able to use my old 4 Mp Olympus D580, which has good sensors for yellows and greens. (The stones in the background of the top photo are chrysoberyls.)

Copyright © 2009 N. Tenney Naumer -- All rights reserved.

More info on the formation of amber here:

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/47998/title/Flowerless_plants_make_fancy_amber