P.O. Box 2480, Stoke on Trent, ST7 2WT News Stories Continued Fellows & Sons have very kindly agreed to support this sale and waive any vendor commission charges for the sale of Gem-A equipment; however, you will still need to pay the buyer’s premium of 20.57% on top of the hammer price. Nevertheless, we want to sell all these items, so there are modest reserves!   For those less experienced bidders there are several ways you can bid at this sale: In person The ideal way. You are very welcome to attend the sale and bid in person, however you will need to register at reception on arrival and obtain a paddle number if you wish to bid in the room. Commission bid You can leave a maximum bid with the auctioneer prior to the sale if you are unable to attend. Telephone A member of Fellows and Sons staff will phone you a few lots prior to your lot and keep you appraised of the progress and you may bid as you wish. Internet Fellows and Sons operate a real time system to allow you to bid online, please register your interest before hand and sit in the comfort of your home or office and listen, watch and bid as the sale progresses. If you wish to listen to the sale please click here and then click on the tab for Live Auctions.   Delivery: Fellows & Sons are able to ship items out to bidders but it is recommended that you contact Fellows before the sale to ascertain the possible delivery price of the item/lot you are interested in. We at Gem-A wish you all the very best of luck in this sale and please do take a look around the other Fellows & Sons offerings in the sales occurring prior to the sale on 13 April, namely Jewellery on Thursday 8 April and Watches on Monday 12 April.  If you have any queries please contact Fellows & Sons on 0121 212 2131. You may also be interested know that David Callaghan FGA has decided to part with his collection of jewellery- gemstone- and horology-related books which will be offered in the same sale soon after the Gem-A collection, lots 472 to 512. David is a former Chairman of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain (before we became Gem-A) and the NAG, and Director of Hancock’s in Burlington Arcade and I’m sure is well-known to many of you. The proceeds from the Gem-A sale will go wholly towards the purchase of new equipment for teaching purposes and we hope to raise as much as possible. So if you would like to own a small piece of Gem-A history and contribute to our teaching equipment fund please do take a look and leave generous bids.   Jack Ogden Chief Executive Officer   The Gemmological Association of Great Britain 27 Greville Street (Saffron Hill entrance), London EC1N 8TN, UK                                        t: +44 (0) 20 7404 3334   f: +44 (0) 20 7404 8843 e: info@gem-a.com   w: www.gem-a.com Registered charity no. 1109555. The TSUNAMI  December 26 2004 UKFCG Member Brian Fairless, along with his colleague Charlie Stemp, performed a relief project of his own making in Sri Lanka after the tsunami.  He and Charlie took it upon themselves to travel to the East Coast of Sri Lanka to clean, refresh and refurbish the drinking water wells at various coastal villages which had all been contaminated by sea water in the deluge.  Additionally they built numerous wooden homes for the homeless and now destitute local villagers.  All voluntary work at their own expense. Brian's account of this operation and the numerous photos he took are available for viewing on his web site:                                                      http://bandd.no-ip.org/bandd.html   This is well worth a visit!  Well done Brian & Charlie!   Birefringence for Faceters