JCK editor-in-chief Victoria Gomelsky and news director Rob Bates interview Bruce Bridges, CEO of Bridges Tsavorite and president of American Gem Trade Association (AGTA). Their sprawling conversation covers Bruce’s upbringing in Kenya, his family’s deep ties to mining in Africa, and the devastating story of his father Campbell’s murder. Beyond the details of what happened that day and Bruce’s long, arduous fight for justice, he talks about his father’s legacy: the gems Campbell is famous for discovering and naming, as well as his dream of creating an elephant sanctuary on the family’s mining claims. Bruce also shares his insights on tariffs and how they’re affecting the gem shows in Tucson. Finally, he teases some of the special gems he’ll be showcasing there.

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Show Notes
03:30 Bruce’s background in Africa and gem mining
04:35 What his father, Campbell, is known for in the gem trade
09:25 Campbell Bridges’ murder
16:00 The ensuing legal battle
18:48 The status of Bridges’ mine in Kenya after the trial
20:30 Creating an elephant sanctuary
22:23 Bruce’s current business
25:12 Tariffs and what to expect at the Tucson gem shows

Episode Credits
Hosts: Rob Bates and Victoria Gomelsky
Producer and engineer: Natalie Chomet
Editor: Riley McCaskill
Plugs: @jckmagazine; adiamondisforever.com; facetsoffire.com/centurion

Episode Transcript
This transcript has been abridged and edited for clarity.

Victoria:
Hey, everyone, welcome to The Jewelry District…. Our guest today is not only AGTA board president, but I would consider him gemstone royalty. The son of Campbell Bridges, he’s Bruce Bridges, president and CEO of Bridges Tsavorite, third-generation gem dealer.

For those of you who know gems and know the history of tsavorite and tanzanite, Campbell Bridges brought those stones to light and really turned the gem trade around in the late ’60s when Tiffany began promoting the stones he’d found and brought to market.

We’ve got so much to talk to Bruce about, including, of course, his outlook for the [Tucson] gem shows and his thoughts on tariffs. Bruce, it’s so, nice to have you…. You just came in from D.C., is that right?

Bruce:
I did. I was in D.C. all week and just landed about an hour ago. I have very recent information, so I’m excited to hopefully shed some light on a few things and answer any questions you might have.

Victoria:
Amazing. We definitely will get to that, but we always like to start with a background. And your background is among the more interesting [of] guests we’ve had, because you grew up in Africa with a very famous father. Tell us about where you’re from and a little bit about what your childhood and introduction to the gem world was like.

Bruce:
I’m from Kenya but was actually born in the United States. My mother’s American, and my parents wanted me to have U.S. citizenship, but I was moved back to Kenya at 2 months old. I’m third generation, on my father’s side, from Africa. My father’s side of the family has been in Africa for over 100 years, and my mother has been in Africa since the mid ’60s.

Growing up in Kenya was just a paradise. It was a fabulous, magical upbringing, and I cherish those memories very fondly. My father was well known and well accomplished in the industry, and it was fascinating growing up with him because every day was an adventure in our household.

Victoria:
For people who aren’t as familiar with gem trade history or your father, tell us what he’s most known for. How do you think of his legacy in terms of the gem trade and the stones that he was so instrumental in bringing to market?

Bruce:
If I had to put it in a sentence, I would say that my father is the father of colored gemstone mining in East Africa. He is the man who discovered tsavorite, which is Kenya’s national gemstone, and the first person to bring tanzanite to the United States. Not just for identification, which he did with the GIA in 1967, but on top of that, he introduced tanzanite and then tsavorite to Tiffany & Co.

Obviously, Tiffany had a great deal to do with the successes of both gemstones. Not only did it market them both, but my father— through his contact and friend at Tiffany, president Harry Platt— actually named tanzanite. Then my father named tsavorite at Harry’s behest. Harry felt that this green grossular garnet that my father discovered needed a name. So my father was responsible for not just the discovery but the introduction of East Africa’s two largest, most famous, most popular gemstones to the world.

We come from a long history of mining in our family, where my grandfather did a lot of the geological mapping in the early 1900s of what was then Tanganyika, later to become Tanzania. Then became chief geologist at Central Mining in South Africa, which was one of the largest mining houses in the world at the time.

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Rob:
On a more serious note, when we were doing prep for this show, we found an interesting article in Men’s Journal from 2017 which talked about what happened to your father, the fact that he was killed. We wanted to make sure that you’re comfortable talking about that, and you said you are. Do you want to tell us a little bit about that, as much as you’re comfortable with? For people who read the article, which I thought was a well-done, sensitive piece, do you want to share if there is anything new regarding that case?

Bruce:
Sure. I remember the article very well because Eric Konigsberg, the writer, came to Kenya for the better part of a month. To give a brief history, we were in Tanzania until 1970. In 1970, Julius Nyerere, the president of Tanzania, nationalized our mines and we had to leave Tanzania. So my father traced the strike of tsavorite from Tanzania into Kenya, then rediscovered tsavorite in Kenya. He’s credited for its first discovery there in 1970. That’s why I grew up in Kenya instead of Tanzania.

In 2006, there were two local politicians who teamed up with a well-known local gangster. They decided they wanted what we had and figured the best way to get it was to force us off our mining claims. This started with encroachment of illegal miners, who were sent and supported by the politicians and spearheaded by the local gangster.

This was all reported and well documented to the Kenyan government mines department at the time. After three years of threats and escalating violence, the individuals involved decided that they couldn’t scare us away from our mining claims. And the best way to steal our claims was simply to kill us all. So on Aug. 11, 2009, my father, myself, and four of our employees were ambushed on our mine road by 25 to 40 people.

Tragically, the first blow of the attack was a fatal one to my father, where he was stabbed through the heart. What they didn’t figure is, basically they were a bunch of cowards, and when we fought back and started to kill them, they didn’t like it and ran away. That’s why I’m still here, as well as our four employees that were with us that day. Keep in mind, we had three years of escalating threats and violence, all of which were documented and reported.

Rob:
Did you expect it to get to the level that it got?

Bruce:
That day, we had many in the local community calling us, telling us that these individuals were putting up barricades on our mine road and—as they put it at the time—“breathing fire,” making threats. A day prior, we had formal death threats where we were blocked on the neighboring road. And that was all reported to the police. So, yes, we did have an idea that things could get very bad.

In 2006, we often had to deal with illegal mining, claim jumpers, that sort of thing. However, I don’t think that when it started in 2006, we thought it would get to the point that it did in 2009. The main difference was it had very strong political backing behind it this time. That was obviously helping the movement strengthen and enabled it to get to where it did.

You may ask, “If you had local people calling to warn you that barricades were being established on your mine road, why did you go into the fray?” The reason was we were at a court case in town that we left very early for that day, and we got warnings while we were in court.

It was very well planned on the murderers’ parts because that court case had to do with two of our employees who were kidnapped by the gangsters involved. The people against us knew that we had to be in court that day for that kidnapping trial.

The issue was, we had a tour group that was going meet us at the mine later that day. When I talked to my father about it and said, “Dad, maybe not such a good idea to go back. Maybe we go to Nairobi and bring down extra security,” he said, “No, I won’t hear of that. What happens if this tour group that’s going to visit us, that we’re responsible for, runs into the roadblocks that were meant for us, and they get slaughtered? I’m not going to have that on my conscience. They’re our responsibility. They’re on our mining claim coming to visit us, and we have to ensure that doesn’t happen.” So that’s why we went back.

To answer your question, Rob, we had a very good idea that is what was going to happen. We went to the police station to get a police escort. We had called the police telling them what we were going to do. When we got there, if you can believe it, the whole police station was locked down and there wasn’t a soul in sight. Nobody we knew in the local police would answer their phones. As you can see, it was all quite the setup.

Victoria:
We’re so sorry.

Rob:
That’s absolutely awful. Some of the men, I believe, were prosecuted.

Bruce:
It happened in broad daylight, and we had three years of documentation. We had photos, first, middle, last names of everyone involved. When I say 25 to 40 people were involved in the attack, we were able to identify 25, but there were more than 25 people running around. What happened after the attack is my private security, with the aid of Kenyan police, were able to apprehend the ringleaders, along with several others. And we brought eight people to trial.

Then we had a very prolonged five-and-a-half-year trial. And I spent more money on that trial than one would need to retire for two lifetimes. On a capital case, it’s a shame one would have to do that. However, that’s simply the fact of the matter. Even with all the resources that we pumped into it, not just monetarily but also the intelligence that we had—we’d been in Kenya for 40 years at that point—it still took five and a half years for the finalization of the trial. And four of those who we brought to trial were found guilty and given 40-year sentences, and four were found not guilty and released.

While it was seen as a huge victory in Kenya for us, because everybody thought that everybody was going to get off scot-free, as a family we looked at it as a huge defeat, because given all the evidence that I gave you, it should have been a 100% conviction rate, and additional individuals should have been brought to bear. But instead, we had 50% of those involved get off. The reason they did is because they would have implicated the politicians involved, and of course, that couldn’t be allowed to happen.

The Kenyans were basically telling us, “We’re sorry for what happened, so we’re going to give you these four. But you understand, we can’t give you the other four because if we did, then that’s going to bring the politicians into it.” And that’s a whole other story. Yes, we still have four people that are serving basically life sentences, at 40 years, in jail. I check on them every week to make sure they’re still in there. But we were very disappointed in the outcome.

However, it at least showed that we were in the right and that we tried our very best to find justice for my father. But it’s not something that I let go, and I’m still trying to bring to bear those who weren’t brought to trial. We’re still looking for people. Everybody’s scattered into the wind, went into Tanzania, Uganda, all over the place. It’s not something that we’ve given up on.

Victoria:
What about the mine and that land in Kenya?

Bruce:
I haven’t given up one of my father’s assets in Kenya. I still have the family home and the mines. I spend quite a bit of time in Kenya still. The trial for my father’s murder ended in December 2014. We had mining operations hold for five and a half years until the completion of the trial. Then the Kenyan government told us we were allowed to reopen the mine once the court case was behind us. We reopened the mine, sunk millions into it, and then mid-2016, the government didn’t renew our mining licenses. It didn’t revoke them—it simply didn’t renew them. And they didn’t renew my mineral dealer’s license either.

Technically, without a mineral dealer’s license, I couldn’t sell you gravel. And without a mining license, I couldn’t legally mine. They’re just trying to wait me out because they know that I have all of these sunk costs. We didn’t let go one of our employees. Many of these people have been with me for decades. Our longest-standing employee has been with us since I was 6, and I’m 46 now. I’m not going to let these people go. They’ve spent their lifetimes with us and rely on us for their livelihoods.

Now that it’s 2026, it’s been a decade that they have held my mining licenses in limbo. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I don’t feel that they’ll let me mine again. One thing my father always dreamed of was to make an elephant sanctuary out of his mining claims, because we’re in the middle of the elephant migratory route from Tanzania in the south to the Tsavo National Park in Kenya.

When the elephants migrate from Tanzania in the south to Tsavo National Park, you’ll have huge herds that migrate through our mining claims. You can see 70, 80 elephants—an unbelievable sight. I’ve offered the Kenyan government that I will put everything in trust and simply donate all my mining claims in Kenya if they allow me to fulfill my father’s dream of creating an elephant sanctuary and national heritage site out of the Scorpion mine and our mining claims there. I believe it’s only a positive, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed. It’s certainly not a foregone conclusion that this will come through, but it’s a huge concentration of mine right now.

Victoria:
How have you maintained the business? You buy tsavorite and tanzanite, but you deal in more than just those two gems. Your business has some of the other stones from East Africa, like spinel, is that right?

Bruce:
Certainly so. I specialize in all African color. The funny thing about my father is even though he spent his entire life mining, he really was into mining for the romance, magic, and adventure. He hated to sell gemstones. I’m very fortunate that I was left with a huge amount of inventory. He made a wonderful living for his small family, but he was never about being the wealthiest man in the world. As long as the family was provided for in a good manner, as it certainly was, he stockpiled for half a century of mining. I would say still about 90% of my inventory I inherited from my father.

Aside from that, it’s sad to say, but if I attach my name to mining projects, it gets attention in Africa, and sometimes the wrong attention. I invest in mining projects all over Africa, from Tanzania to Mozambique to Nigeria. I’m getting material in from all over Africa. I also fly all over the world and look at pieces.

I like to say I’m in the information game. In Africa, I am the ground. And if I’m not in Africa, then I’m in Asia. I have a very good network that, if I need it, provides me gems from all over Africa. I look at my inventory that I’ve inherited from my father as investments. I try not to sell those if I can. And I’m constantly sourcing, I’m constantly investing in projects. I have all that my father thankfully left me, and then I also have goods coming in all the time as well.

It’s a pretty magical business. I can’t imagine anything else that could really equal that level of excitement. I’m sure it’s out there, but just for me, I think it would be very tough to find something that could replicate the feeling that this business gives you.

Victoria:
That magic comes alive in Tucson. Do you want to give us a little snapshot of the market and what your expectation is for the shows, especially in light of tariffs?

I continue to hear from dealers that tariffs are really impacting who might be coming to Tucson and that dealers from abroad may have chosen not to come because there’s so little clarity on how much they’ll have to pay for their goods as they enter the country. Do you want to tell us a little bit about what you learned in D.C.?

Bruce:
As of April 2, 2025, we had tariffs implemented on an industry that had never experienced tariffs or duties in its history. For the last 60 years, American dealers had all enjoyed tax-exempt status on any loose colored stones coming into the country. That all changed as of April 2. On top of that, it wasn’t just a flat rate, it was country-specific. The numbers have changed a great deal [since April 2], and they continue to change as new agreements get written up. There was and is a lot of confusion in the industry.

We at AGTA jumped on this situation immediately, as we saw it as the biggest threat to our industry in half a century. We retained government consultants in D.C., immediately engaged with the administration and U.S. government. We’ve had myriad in-person meetings, phone calls, letters written over the last year. Thankfully, we had Europe added to Annex III’s PTAP [Practice Transition Accreditation Program], so we enjoy tax-exempt status on goods coming in from Europe.

Looking at the AGTA show in Tucson, the ballroom is completely sold out. Aside from a few leaves of absences due to medical emergency or family wedding, the gem hall floor is sold out as well. Our registrations are up. We have an extremely strong turnout.

However, AGTA is not the sole show in Tucson. Across the street, at GJX, the majority of their patrons aren’t American dealers but overseas dealers. We have had this discussion with Allan Norville, who owns GJX, and he is still stating that they are sold out at GJX.

We’ve been in touch with all of the big jewelry houses in Europe, and I can’t think of any of them that are not coming. Yes, there are lots of complaints, but they’ll still be here because everybody understands Tucson is the biggest gem show in the world. It literally spans this entire city. I can tell you that Tucson is the best show for colored stones in the world.

Victoria:
Bruce, I will come on that first day to see what you’ve got. Are there any superspecial stones you want to tease our listeners about?

Bruce:
I have some amazing tsavorites, of course. I have some very special mandarin garnets that I haven’t shown at this show before. And we just cut a fantastic parcel of large pink Malaya garnets from Mahenge, Tanzania. Then I will be unveiling, for the first time, a very special tourmaline that is quite unlike anything anybody has ever seen before. I won’t tell you exactly what it is, but it will be extraordinary.

Victoria:
Amazing. Well, that’s a good, seductive note to leave on. Bruce, thank you so much. Your insights into this world, your fascinating history, and the legacy of your dad are truly fascinating. Thank you. I look forward to seeing you in Tucson.

Bruce:
It’s my pleasure. I think you will see good news ahead in 2026 regarding tariffs. I think 2026 is a year of hope.

Any views expressed in this podcast do not reflect the opinion of JCK, its management, or its advertisers.

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