The famous gem hunter who discovered Tsavorite.
In 1967, Scottish gemmologist Campbell R Bridges discovered a beautiful green gemstone hidden in a potato shaped rock in Tanzania.
After performing gemmological tests, he declared it Grossularite: an extremely rare member of the Garnet family. Unfortunately, very shortly after discovering the gem, the Tanzanian Government nationalised all mines and Campbell was forced to leave the country.
Not a man known to give up - and with Tiffany & Co. having already shown interest in the gem - Campbell traced the vein in which it was originally found back to Kenya. In 1971, after searching for the gem for over a year, he rediscovered it in the Tsavo National Park. In order to protect his find, Campbell resided in treetops, using a pet python to guard the gems. Campbell was finally able to officially register the deposit and obtained permission to mine. In 1974, Campbell agreed with the then President of Tiffany & Co., Henry Platt, that the gem should be named after the park in which it was found, the name Tsavorite was agreed.
Tragically Campbell was murdered aged 71 on 11th August 2009 by a group of men due to a dispute over mining near the town of Voi, Kenya.
