In 1967, a Maasai herder called Jumanne Mhero Ngoma stumbled across a clump of unusual violet crystals in the Mereli Hills near the Tanzanian city of Arusha. For his discovery, Ngoma was awarded 50,000 shillings – about $22 in today’s money. However, the rights to sell the mineral were awarded to Henry B. Platt, vice president of the American jeweller Tiffany and Co and the great-grandson of its founder, Louis Comfort Tiffany. Platt named the stone ‘Tanzanite’ and boasted in a marketing campaign that the jewel could only…
