FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Chris Wentzell]

I just wanted to share a story I just saw in the last hour on Facebook, sadly the Fallbrook Gem & Mineral Society Museum in Fallbrook, California, was robbed of several important Tourmaline Specimens..... here is the link to the facebook story:
https://www.facebook.com/fallbrookgemandmineralsociety/posts/1854174861264990
(link normalized by FMF)

Apologies if I have not done this correctly, but I wanted to get this up so that everyone can see it and spread the news to be on the lookout. Jordi and/or admins, can you please add the photos of the pieces shown in it? Many thanks in advance, lets hope these get found soon....

[Pierre Joubert]

Thank you Chris.

[Jordi Fabre]

[lluis]

Sorry to hear this, Chris

Being in Catalonia, I doubt I can give any indication... In case I see them in Internet as being to be sold, or sold, I would contact you...

With best wishes, and a very prompt recuperation of pieces!

Lluís

[James Catmur]

If they knew what they were doing they will have taken labels with locations. Do we know their localities?

[Chris Wentzell]

Thank you all..... also, the phone number for reporting anything is in the facebook post, but I would like to include it here too so if somebody sees or hears anything they can report it....
"Museum break-in: early hours of Sept. 10, 2017. 5 major tourmaline specimens stolen, plus others. Report suspicious sales or leads to San Diego Sheriff's Dept 760-451-3141

best regards, chris

[GneissWare]

photos 1 and 3 are Cryogenie Mine, Warner Springs, California,
photo 4 is Himalaya Mine, Pala

[James Catmur]

I will keep an eye out for internet sales - as I am fairly certain they will not turn up in the UK.

[rweaver]

Himalaya Mine is in Mesa Grande not Pala.

[GneissWare]

[rweaver]

Or what happens when you grow up in San Diego and wind up being a Yellow Hat / Driver for Josie Scripps. On the up side I got into places in the county back then that a lot of collectors did not.

[alfredo]

Thefts of mineral specimens from museums have become depressingly common in recent years: Sterling Hill, Mariposa, Franklin... and more. One might wonder whether museums were a safe bet for depositing the world's mineralogical treasures. I think we need a collectors' strike: no more mineral donations to museums until their security systems are brought up-to-date.

[Peter Lemkin]

Were these Josie Scripps specimens? She really had quite a collection!...and did a lot to advance the mining and collection of minerals in San Diego. Sorry to hear of the theft. I once had some professional movers move my collection. All was still there EXCEPT the raw diamonds - all gone. I couldn't do anything, as they simply said 'prove you had them in the mineral drawers when the movers moved them' - and I could not - though I am 100% sure they were....the box with the label was still there, but empty. Thank goodness the moving men didn't think any of my other specimens had enough value for them to pilfer.

Sadly, I think there are enough collectors in CA and nearby who would likely be interested in buying those specimens privately without the need to advertise them on the internet or at a show. Hope I'm wrong and they show up again. The thieves could be collectors themselves and not trying to sell them.

[Tobi]

[Mary FongWalker]

All of the members of the Fallbrook Gem & Mineral Society (FGMS) are disheartened by this brazen theft. But I want to make something perfectly clear: the museum had more than met all security standards. FGMS has always had security has it's highest priority for the museum and the treasures that are housed within.

At 4 o'clock in the morning, the burglars cut the chains and padlocks, broke the security gates, breached the front doors, triggered the alarm system, then proceeded to break the locked glass display cases, and escaped with Tourmaline specimens before the police arrived.

These iconic specimens are the heart of the San Diego County suite. They were obtained either thru fund-raising efforts or through donations by generous benefactors. The Fallbrook Museum is an admission-free museum that is solely staffed by volunteers who want to share their passion for gems, minerals & fossils with the local community. Of particular importance is exposing our hobby to kids so they can get excited about mineral collecting and learn about our area's rich mining history.

We are hoping that publicizing the theft will help us recover these specimens and we thank all of you in the mineral world for spreading the word. We also hope that our story will encourage all of you to examine the security measures you have installed for your own collections.

FGMS is offering a generous REWARD for information leading to the recovery of all, or some, of the stolen specimens.

[Mary FongWalker]

This is the other Cryo-Genie specimen that was stolen

[Mary FongWalker]

This is another of the stolen tourmalines.

[Mary FongWalker]

Another Queen Mine specimen that was stolen.

[Mary FongWalker]

This is the last of the five major Tourmaline specimens stolen from Fallbrook Gem & Mineral museum

[Mary FongWalker]

In addition to the five major Tourmaline specimens, several rough & cut sets were stolen: 6 were Tourmaline sets and the additional 7 sets included Emerald, Morganite, Amethyst,
Aquamarine, Topaz, Garnet & Ametrine. This photo shows how the sets were mounted. These were donated to the museum by Ed Swoboda who was well known for these sets.