We are sending this out to all segments of the gemstone industry world wide. The World Gem Society office has been informed that the good folks from the Sunstone Butte Mine of Plush, Oregon had their entire inventory stolen from a trailer at the Tucson Gem Shows earlier this week. This theft has taken away years of very hard work on the part of these folks, and we are asking the assistance of the world gemstone industry to help us get it back.
As seen in the images shown, the Plush Oregon Sunstone produced by this mine is quite unique in color with many intense greens. This makes this material fairly easy to identify when attempts are made to sell these stolen goods either as a group or individual stones.
The World Gem Society is offering a US$1,000.00 REWARD for information that leads to the return of these goods to the mine owners. We are not concerned with the perpetrators as the Almighty has a way of dealing with people. What we do ask is the return of the goods as this has stolen the very livelihood from these good people who worked for years digging this material out of the ground. Actual images of the Sunstone Butte production are seen below from our ISG Rush to Plush event in June of this year. The Sunstone Butte material is quite unique. Please refer all leads to the Tucson Police Department at 520-791-4444.
LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICES: The World Gem Society has “in situ” gathered specimens from the Sunstone Butte Mine and can identify recovered gemstones from this mine by XRF, SEMS, and LA-ICP-MS elemental analysis. Actual images of the Sunstone Butte gemstones are below. The World Gem Society offers our specimen group for verification and identification of any recovered goods, and we will cover the cost of testing recovered sunstone that is suspected to be from this theft. Please contact the World Gem Society office for more details as to how we can help identify any recovered sunstone gemstones as being from the Sunstone Butte Mine. Images of the actual material from the Sunstone Butte Mine are below for your reference.
If anyone is offered Plush Oregon Sunstone material that comes from any unusual source (other than a mine owner) please contact the Tucson Police Department at 520-791-4444. Let’s unify as an industry on this. These guys are going to try to sell these goods. Stay alert, help your fellow World Gem Society member. The next time could be you and we will help you in return.
To the people who stole this material: You have hurt some good people who worked for years to dig this material out of the earth. What goes around eventually comes around. We ask that you return these goods immediately so the Sunstone Butte folks can make a living out of their hard work. There is time to make this right if you simply return these goods.
Robert James
PLEASE SPREAD THIS REPORT FAR AND WIDE:
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