Hello from Tucson! It is that time of year again when Dinosaurs and Dealers invade Tucson for nearly a month of shows, at over 40 locations across the city. We exhibit at three different mineral shows – the first is the Arizona Mineral and Fossil Show run by MZ Expos, which is held at three different locations. We are in the Hotel Tucson City Centre (which will forever be known to collectors as the InnSuites). This show officially opens on Jan 31st, but many dealers arrive and open up their rooms earlier.
This year (2015) we have moved back to our ‘old’ rooms at the Hotel – room 174 and 175 – on the ground floor of Building F, facing into the courtyards towards the pool. Before we left Laguna Beach we went through the inventory and dropped the prices on everything 20 to 35% – sitting on inventory is not what we want to do, we would rather move it along to make space so we can go on to the next set of acquisitions. So be sure to come see us and grab a bargain!!! As well as some great specimens we also have a wide selection of mineralogical books including brand new publications and antiquarian, including the Edwin Van Amringe book collection (famous Pasadena geologist) in room 175!
Walking around the show in search of new finds, we visited The Collector’s Edge and they had many new specimens, particularly from China and definitely with the ‘wow’ factor. The first are these fantastic deep blue Fluorites on milky Quartz from Huanggang Mine, Inner Mongolia, China – a location which has been very active for several years now. These specimens are some of the finest large clusters from the find, and the colour contrast is very striking with deep blue to bluish-green against white Quartz. The Fluorites are cubic with dodecahedral modifications, and often exhibit an unusual curvature to the crystal edges and faces giving them a strange shape.
Collector’s Edge also had these new Quartz var. Amethyst crystal clusters from the Brandberg Complex in the Erongo Region, Namibia. The colour is quite deep with touch of Smoky, and the prismatic crystals are often sceptred. The Amethyst is growing from a Feldspar matrix.
We always visit The Adelaide Mining Company to see what new Crocoite beauties Adam Wright has brought to Tucson, and once again marvel at the incredible feat of transporting these delicate specimens safely across the world. This was an outstanding specimen that caught our eye, with many of the terminations showing hoppered or hollow growth. It is approx 20 x 25 x 15 cm and we believe it is from last season’s mining.
The Dorris family of Pinnacle 5 or now more famously known as ‘The Prospectors’ with Season 3 premiering last December (2014) on the Weather Channel – this is a TV show following their mining adventures. The Dorris family spend each summer mining in the mountains of Colorado, finding fantastic Smoky Quartz and Amazonite specimens which they prepare themselves. This show they have many new pieces on display, mostly from their last mining season:
Further around the show, there are dealers set up inside the large ballrooms at the Hotel – Jewel Tunnel Imports takes up the whole ‘Tucson Ballroom’ with their flats of wholesale material.
The weather plays a big part of the Tucson show, as it can be so different each year, and impacts on everyone’s mood. There is nothing like the warm sunny days with Tucson’s wide open deep blue sky and everyone sitting around outside in the sunshine talking rocks, especially for people escaping much colder weather at home. The cold wet days are not so much fun sitting in a hotel room with the door wide open for visitors (and the cold) to come in. It has been quite nice so far, up around 70 F / 20 C but is now raining heavily, and is chaos with everywhere flooding. Hopefully it should be warming up again next week!
That’s all in our first show report from the 2015 Arizona Mineral and Fossil Show in Tucson. We will be open here for the next week or so with the show officially ending on Feb 14th.
Our other two mineral shows in Tucson will be:
Westward Look Fine Mineral Show – Feb 6 – 9
Westward Look Resort. 245 E. Ina Rd.
Room 275
Tucson Gem and Mineral Show – Feb 12 – 15
Tucson Convention Centre,
Aisle 800 – find our booth in the center!
We always hold back specimens for each show so that we have new material available – so be sure to come and visit us at all three!
