It started out as a safari to see one of Africa’s most beautiful great beasts, the red elephant. It ended with a treasure trove of the most dazzling green stone I’ve ever seen, even after over 40 years in the rare gem business.
The remote, lion infested bush-land along the Kenya-Tanzania border is an area of raw beautiful African wilderness with...read more
It started out as a safari to see one of Africa’s most beautiful great beasts, the red elephant. It ended with a treasure trove of the most dazzling green stone I’ve ever seen, even after over 40 years in the rare gem business.
The remote, lion infested bush-land along the Kenya-Tanzania border is an area of raw beautiful African wilderness with a history of violent volcanic activity, and is also the only place on earth you can find tsavorite. A relatively new gemstone in terms of market exposure, tsavorite is one of the oldest gemstones on earth, forming two billion years ago before the dinosaurs trekked the earth.
This stunning green gem was discovered by accident in 1967 by Scottish gemologist, Campbell Bridges. According to locals, Bridges was charged by a buffalo and avoided the animal by diving into a gully. Looking around, he noticed striking green stones glinting in the sunlight. Harry Platt of Tiffany & Company immediately recognized its potential due to its gemological pedigree and named it after the Tsavo Game Reserve in Kenya, the area of its discovery.
And, while often compared to the most famous green gem, emerald, tsavorite has both a higher refractive index and dispersion, making it explode with fire and color. Tsavorite is also a natural beauty requiring no treatments whatsoever to enhance it. There is also no known imitation, as tsavorite’s complex chemical and physical properties makes synthesizing impossible. The Tsavorite Discovery Collection gives you this beautiful rare gem for a price that’s a rarity in its own right. Pendant comes suspended from a 20” gold-finished sterling silver chain.
