Who We Are
Started in 1961 in Zimbabwe, Africa, Hilmar began working exclusively with the elite cutting houses in Idar-Oberstein, Germany. providing gemstone rough from Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
In 1982, Hilmar immigrated to South Africa with his family and simultaneously expanded his gemstone rough business. He has been providing fine, facet quality gemstone rough by mail order to lapidaries all over the world ever since.
Hilmar, a man always looking to be ahead of the curve, was an early adopter of the internet and developed the first African Gemstone website in the early 1990’s. No more postcards and paper lists in the mail!
We currently supply rough to tradesman and women- lapidaries, carvers, and jewelers- as a wholesaler and we source our rough from many more countries than the three we started with over 50 years ago. We obtain rough from Mozambique, Namibia, Malawi, Tanzania Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, Madagascar, Brazil, Bolivia, Zimbabwe. We ship to even more countries!
With an eye towards preserving the art of lapidary and supporting independent lapidaries and cutting houses alike, we strive to provide only facet grade rough of high clarity; we promise to always disclose as much information about the stone as we can obtain, including origin, treatments, color, and clarity; and we aim for excellent, personal customer service- we can’t promise to be perfect, but we’ll always attempt to make your transactions and interactions with us smooth, straightforward, and pleasant.
About US
Hilmar Bosch
I am of Dutch nationality and have been in the gemstone field since 1961. I was born in Nairobi, Kenya, and, as a youngster, travelled extensively with my parents throughout Africa. I completed my education in Harare, Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia). After two years at university studying geology, I decided my future was with gemstones and left in 1963 to obtain my Fellowship Diploma in Gemmology from the Gemmological Association of Great Britain. I was asked to start the Gemmology and Gemstone Cutting courses at the Harare Polytechnic and was head lecturer for a number of years, as well as still operating our jewellery manufacturing and gemstone cutting factory in Harare. The cutting factories in Idar-Oberstein (Germany) were our biggest buyers of facet grade rough, mainly Tourmaline, Topaz, Aquamarine and Garnet, whilst large tonnages of bulk rough such as Agate, Carnelian, Dumortierite, Amazonite, Fossilized Wood, Jasper, etc found a ready market in the States.
By 1982, the situation in Zimbabwe was deteriorating to such an extent that my family and I emigrated to South Africa where I opened African Gemstones and started our first website, supplying fine facet rough mainly to the States. Tanganyika Trading, with its own website, was opened in 1994 when we became involved with the gemstones in Tanzania.
Both African Gemstones and Tanganyika Trading are now amalgamated, and operate under https://tanganyika-trading.myshopify.com.
In 1982, Hilmar immigrated to South Africa with his family and simultaneously expanded his gemstone rough business. He has been providing fine, facet quality gemstone rough by mail order to lapidaries all over the world ever since.
Hilmar, a man always looking to be ahead of the curve, was an early adopter of the internet and developed the first African Gemstone website in the early 1990’s. No more postcards and paper lists in the mail!
We currently supply rough to tradesman and women- lapidaries, carvers, and jewelers- as a wholesaler and we source our rough from many more countries than the three we started with over 50 years ago. We obtain rough from Mozambique, Namibia, Malawi, Tanzania Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, Madagascar, Brazil, Bolivia, Zimbabwe. We ship to even more countries!
With an eye towards preserving the art of lapidary and supporting independent lapidaries and cutting houses alike, we strive to provide only facet grade rough of high clarity; we promise to always disclose as much information about the stone as we can obtain, including origin, treatments, color, and clarity; and we aim for excellent, personal customer service- we can’t promise to be perfect, but we’ll always attempt to make your transactions and interactions with us smooth, straightforward, and pleasant.
About US
Hilmar Bosch
I am of Dutch nationality and have been in the gemstone field since 1961. I was born in Nairobi, Kenya, and, as a youngster, travelled extensively with my parents throughout Africa. I completed my education in Harare, Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia). After two years at university studying geology, I decided my future was with gemstones and left in 1963 to obtain my Fellowship Diploma in Gemmology from the Gemmological Association of Great Britain. I was asked to start the Gemmology and Gemstone Cutting courses at the Harare Polytechnic and was head lecturer for a number of years, as well as still operating our jewellery manufacturing and gemstone cutting factory in Harare. The cutting factories in Idar-Oberstein (Germany) were our biggest buyers of facet grade rough, mainly Tourmaline, Topaz, Aquamarine and Garnet, whilst large tonnages of bulk rough such as Agate, Carnelian, Dumortierite, Amazonite, Fossilized Wood, Jasper, etc found a ready market in the States.
By 1982, the situation in Zimbabwe was deteriorating to such an extent that my family and I emigrated to South Africa where I opened African Gemstones and started our first website, supplying fine facet rough mainly to the States. Tanganyika Trading, with its own website, was opened in 1994 when we became involved with the gemstones in Tanzania.
Both African Gemstones and Tanganyika Trading are now amalgamated, and operate under https://tanganyika-trading.myshopify.com.
