Author Archives: SnobAppeal

Tucson Gem, Mineral, & Fossil Shows 2014-Dino Bone & Lapidary Stuff

Pyrite/Silver/Lead inclusion in this Rhodocrosite.

I wanted to show you the metal-included Rhodocrosite I mentioned yesterday. There was not much, but I bought what I could.

Cover and vice options on 7" Barranca Diamond Trim Saw

7" Barranca Diamond Trim Saw with quiet motor

Barranca Diamond GP6-6 WheelCab Maker.

Motor on GP-6

New Citrus scented Mineral Oil comes in 5 Gallon pails for $50.

Electric Park was calling again today. (My editor tells me that this hasn’t been called this in several years). I will endeavor to refer to it as Kino Sports Complex, but my mind reverts to what I first learned!) I wanted to avoid the crowds at the wholesale shows and The Kino Sports Complex provides room to move. We have heard that thieves are hitting the shows for cell phones, so watch yours when in town. Some of our vendor friends had to replace their phones.

I checked out what Lapidary Equipment might be new. Barranca Diamond features a new 6-wheel GP6 Cabmaker which resembles a Genie. The difference from a Genie is this motor has 1/3 horsepower (rather than 1/4), and they use brazed 80 and 170 grit metal-bonded diamond wheels. They have the same 4 Nova wheels as the Genie. The list price for this machine is $3645, making it more expensive than the Genie, but sale prices may be up to $1000 less, and this is Made in America. A third difference is the Cabmaker features a drip system for wheel-wetting. This avoids the emitter-spray that takes place with the Genie. This also has 6 stainless steel water-control valves verses the Genie emitter system. I was very impressed with this American-made Cabmaker. If you need more information on this check out the BarrancaDiamond website. We talked to John Wease of JS Gems who distributes for them. I appreciate him taking the time to show us these features.

I also saw a new 7 inch Barranca Diamond trimsaw that seemed nice. This saw is comparable in size to Diamond Pacific’s Wizard trimsaw. It featured a direct drive 1/3 hp motor that is extremely quiet, all cast aluminum, and numerous other handy options including a plastic cover that you can reach through the side while cutting. Most of us don’t use a top, but this is a good option for some users. The cast aluminum makes it lighter weight, and is the table lifts up and out for blade changes or cleaning. It has a fluid drain hose and a sludge removal plug. It is mounted on a 1/2″ polypro base, so it is impervious to water or oil. The rock vise and splash hood are options.Again I found these machines to be well-engineered and well built.

DP 18" Swing arm saw.

DP Swing arm saw 18"

At Diamond Pacific I examined their swing arm slab saw. If I had the money, I would own this Model SA18 which has a lot of advantages over my old slab saw. Time-saving elements you don’t have to open the saw to reposition your rock for the next cut and it has a table inside that can be completely removed for cleaning. I expect that one of my lapidary friends that have one of these high tech saws may wish to comment on it.

At Graves I didn’t see anything new, but they do offer excellent saw blades, some American made. I bought a special blade to cut the watermelon tourmaline you saw in a prior blog.

I also saw some Citrus scented Mineral Oil sold by Stellarlubricants.com. This was one of those why-didn’t-I-think-of-that moments. They said that they completely sold out in Quartzsite and it is selling fast here in Tucson also. If I had this oil my shop probably would not even smell like a shop anymore.

Geodes at Kino

More!

Coyote Tails: WTH. I realized later these are probably bounty tails.

Cellinite @$20#

What a great door stop...

Amazing carving at the African carver's tent. Sorry Rob I forgot to ask what the stone was.

A sample of my Gem Bone trove.

We roamed around the grounds at Kino Sports Complex, chatting with vendors looking for things of interest and trying to find something new in the line of rocks. I went back to Bohemian Fossils and dug again into John’s gem Dinosaur Bone troughs. Some slabs called out to me and I couldn’t pass them up. (“Don, pick me, pick me, pick me….”)

Not surprisingly Bonnie found a few beads to round out her collection as well.

Tucson Gem, Mineral, & Fossil Shows 2014-Rough Rocks & Eggs

Aquamarine Crystals

Labradorite in the sun.

We really were going to take the day off, but 65 and sunny changed our minds. I try to avoid attending bead shows, but most of the shows we have attended had plenty of beads. The difference between a bead show and another show is that they are the same, except that any of the outdoor shows the beads are dirtier! Shopping for beads is not my thing, but I do out of my good will take my wife to a random bead show to let her look for beads and things she didn’t know she needed.

To Bead True Blue at the Doubletree Tree Inn was our destination this morning. We did find a parking spot which was a good way to start. Bonnie likes to see the gadgets and new products demonstrated and sold at this show. This is the place to find out about new techniques. If vendors have time they are helpful in explaining their new products and their uses. Happily I found a pair of pliers that I have been searching for to do detailed wire-wrapping. You could buy vintage items, handmade bezels, tools for hot gluing crystals, wire, threads, cords and seed beads of all kinds and colors, wire that had been enameled, stamping tools, cabochons, glass beads, and lots more. Bonnie bought some new bezels to use with crystal clay and small stones, some threads and supplies to try out kumihimo, and some silk ribbons for jewelry. She looked at some other new things but decided that she had 3-4 new processes that she wanted to try and that was more than enough. Meanwhile I sat on a “guy chair” along with another fellow and we had a good chat.

I've mentioned the 22nd Street Show many times. Here is the tent.

After lunch we picked up Holly, our daughter, who lives not far from the “strip”. We looked through 22nd Street show then walked over to the shows at the Clarion and Howard Johnsons. We revisited some areas and found some areas we previously skipped.

Clarion & Howard Johnsons

Behind these two shows is the one of largest selection of rough rock in Tucson, at El Paso Rocks, piles of rock and 50 gallon drums. The girls were intrigued with the Bumble Bee Jasper (not jasper). The rough has an outer core that is very gray and colorless, in big contrast to the vivid colors of the best Bumblebee Jewelry. As we went back through the Rhodoco tent I went through their cabs for those that might have metal inclusions. I was told that the metal inclusions in rhodochrosite are a combination of silver, lead, and pyrite. I searched out a few pieces. I think these unusual cabochons make distinctive jewelry. I’ll show you tomorrow.

Elephant Bird Eggs

morerandomcrystals

Holly found a likeness of her dog.

bigcrystals

Holly & Bonnie liked the Bumblebee at El Paso Rock Shop.

El Paso is the rough rock king in Tucson

I liked this one.

Trilobites at a Moroccan dealer

Coprolite

As I toured around today I took assorted pictures that I thought would be of interest. Enjoy the show.

Tucson Gem, Mineral, & Fossil Shows 2014-Why It Pays To Be an Old Rockhound.

At the entrance to the Holidome tents. No photos allowed inside.

A high grade Turquoise boulder at a Holiday Inn Room.

Where should we go today? This is our coversation over coffee each morning. Today the Holidome show opened. This is a typical hotel show in some ways, but the addition of two big tents add the trade show feel as well. Last year the aisles were so narrow we had trouble with getting by other buyers and especially the “bead ladies” with their large wheeled suitcases in tow. (sometimes the Bead Ladies are really Bead Men, but the oversize luggage is the key identifier.) This year there is an additional connected tent, allowing wider aisles. One lady today insisted the shuttle drop her off on the sidewalk because her suitcase was 150# and the small wheels were useless on the peastone surface.

We first sought to replenish our jewelry chain supply and were able to find some high quality chains of assorted styles and sizes. This is a long and complicated procedure, getting some of this length and that, then moving to another thickness or pattern, then changing metals–silver, rose gold, yellow gold. After you select them, then comes the weighing and the wrapping and the paying. Chains are not so fun to deal with, Bonnie tells me. I really try to stay away.

We scooted through a lot of aisles, skipping past so much finished jewelry and slowing down to look over really nice cabochons or unusual displays.

Good Boulder Opal reasonable.

Walking the aisles we only bought a couple boulder opals. After a few days of busy purchasing it was good to lighten up. The favorite sculpture of the day (again, sorry no pics!) was three parrots carved from Blue Peruvian Opal and perched on top of a large quartz specimen. Memorable.

Randon rocks from the tailgate.

We found some vendors tailgating and we stopped to look. I found an interesting tub of rocks. While I was searching through a tub for treasures, Bonnie mosied (as she says) chatting up people. She likes to scout around and see if I have missed anything good. After I made the deal on my bag of rock, Bonnie said I should look at what one elderly gentleman had.

Old Luna from 50 years ago.

My jaw dropped when I saw he had old stock Luna Agate. I recognized this stuff from years ago. This material was acquired from an estate of an old rockhound (old meaning 103 when he died–maybe rockhunting is a healthy hobby!) who collected in Mexico over 60 years ago. The vendor said people had been walking right by, without even looking at his rare and extinct material. He knew what he had, and I knew what he had, so I did not object to the price. I would have bought it all had my pockets been deep enough. I give Bonnie credit for finding this little pile of treasure. We sure had fun pawing through his pile and trying to figure out which agate pieces would be the best.

A great slab at the Fossil Show

dactyloceras plate

We went to the Arizona Mineral & Fossil Show at the Ramada Inn. Not much was happening there. Some vendors had left or were packing even though this show is open until the 15th. The most interesting, high on the awesome scale were fish plates. Leaning against the second floor balcony from the ground up they were a large eye-catching display waiting for a great location, not in your average house. Bob Finney of Fossil Lake Fish Company gave me a card with the story. Another impressive but smaller plate was next to it with a fern and fossil fish swimming in the fossiliferous sediments. I’ve never seen a larger fossil plate. If you have a fat wallet ($150,000) and an oversize wall you could use this striking fossil centerpiece.

A real Giant of a fish plate with a giant price.

fishfern

These specimens came from southwestern Wyoming and formed 50 millions years ago. The Fossil Lake was around 930 miles, so many geologic features and fossils are being unearthed there. Lots of fossils from around the world are shown at this show.

I see a lot of younger attendees at these shows, rapidly scurrying here and there, as well as the more seasoned veterans, a bit slower, but a bit wiser as to choices they make and knowledge they bring to their choices. It is sort of like the tortoise and the hare race, the early bird might get the worm, but sometimes slow and steady wins the race. That was the case with me today. This is not the first time this has happened. My advice to younger rock hounds is to slow down, look around, and chat with the older folks who have been doing this awhile!

Look what I found in a box at Gary Wilson's booth. Yes a Keweenaw Point Datolite no one else identified.

Tucson Gem, Mineral & Fossil Shows 2014-Bones & Nuts

I found Victoria Stone!

Ammonite. Love the Iridescence.

Perfect Natural Crosses are scarce in this Russian Material.

This scarce Russian material features perfect Natural Crosses.

I started to take photos of things I found yesterday, but ran out of daylight last night. Ammonite from Canada, Staurolite from Russia’s Kola Peninsula, and the very rare Victoria Stones from days gone by.

Happy Bonnie looking for spare parts.

I promised Bonnie I would take her to a bead show today, and since I wanted to go to Kino Complex we found that the “Best Bead Show” was open. Both inside and outside the Kino Community Center on Ajo Way right across the street from where I wanted to go. I was surprised there were other things at this show other than beads.

I’ve been looking for some additional lighting for our show tent and found just the right LED fixtures. I bought a new LED lamp with a flex arm for using in my shop to check cabochons for scratches . A bit pricey, as are most LED’s, these had very sturdy vice-type metal grips to attach to table edges. I was pleased to have found them.

I'm closely examining these opals.

"Yawah Nuts" hold a real possibility of treasure inside. Beautiful Opal that a picture does no justice to.

I did not take any photos at that show. We headed off to Electric Park where we had a few errands. Bonnie needed some beading supplies. I needed a part at Diamond Pacific. I scratched away in some bins I had not seen before.

I discovered some rare Yellow Cat Petrified Redwood at Larry Walker’s Booth. I purchased several smaller pebbles for cutting/jewelry. Yellow Cat is the most red of any petrified wood. Back in the day Tiffany treasured this vibrant wood for his top-notch jewelry. The booth that had the Yellow Cat also had Dinosaur Bone. Larry admired the D-Bone Pendant I recently made, and I was literally blown away by a bracelet he had on. We had a mutual admiration society going down right there.

Larry's mind blowing Dinosaur bone bracelet

My pendant--The Boneyard

I discovered some nice opal Yowah Nuts. Yowahs are a matrix opal with unique patterns. These can contain real treasures at times. They aren’t nuts, but brown roundish rock, with thin seams of color waiting to be uncovered by skilled lapidary work.

Jasparella Jasper from mountain near Quartzsite. I loved the red. It looked like red Dino Bone.

Why has this table not collapsed?

A massive semi came and dumped tons of rocks since last I was at Electric Park--Kino Sports Complex.

Look at those Labradorite Skulls in the sun!!!!

I think I’ll just let my pictures do the talking about our adventures today.

Tucson Gem Mineral and Fossil Shows 2014-Giant Wholesale Shows and “Hair” Jewelry

A view from atop "A" Mountain looking down on the GJX tent and The Tucson Convention Center to the right of the tent and across the street.

We recovered a bit this morning and did not go exploring until 11am. We decided to see what the parking situation was around the convention center. The lots were full, even though they raised parking to $10. I was leaving the area and a miracle happened. An empty, metered, on street parking place appeared. I backed right in and paid for 2 hours ($1). Later we gave it another $1. A lot better than $10!

Entry to the Tucson Convention Center

The red carpet welcomes Wholesale buyers.

The American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) in a massive show (Wholesale Credentials required). The show has massive amounts of common faceted gemstones (as you would expect from a gem trade show) with dealers from around the world. I’ve found better bargains at lesser shows, but walking the aisles at the convention center is interesting.

Security is tight, very tight. When millions in gems are sitting out and in cases, you need this police presence. The gem show provide overtime pay for police protection, and the Tucson Police does a great job.

This is not my niche show, but it is indeed the best place in the world to buy gemstones. The really big deals take place in the hotel rooms, but big deals take place on the show floors and in the case of the giant tent across from the Tucson Convention Center that harbors the GJX (Gem & Jewelry Exchange).

AGTA Credentials will also get you in to the GJX. Even though there are loads of gems, there are also several dealers of interest to me and many others. One dealer in particular, my friend Gary Wilson is consistently one of the busiest booths. He specializes in one-of-a-kind cabochons and his excited clientele include wire-wrappers, silver and goldsmiths, and other jewelry designers. Gary also has a business in our home area of Traverse City, Michigan.

Photos are banned on the Convention Center Floor, but I took this a couple from the observation window on the upper level so you can get an idea of the set up.

agtafloor2

My observations at the Tucson shows is that there is a mixed bag about price, where some things at the wholesale show have skyrocketed prices. One Russian dealer had some fantastic Staurolite that used to be priced reasonably, but it seems that over the last couple of years grade “A” Staurolite has had a large price increase. I bought some today because they were a good quality, but he assured us that in a few years this is likely to not be even available. Opals and Jade were other stones we looked at and passed on because the prices seem to have soared.

The funniest moment of the day was when Bonnie was asking a Brazilian vendor about the blue Tourmaline from Paraiba. She assured Bonnie that is was “very hair”. Hmmm. What? “very hair–not very much of it”. Oh, Rare! Bonnie tried to coach her to say “rare” not “hair”, but didn’t have much luck. We saw many vendors with beautiful pieces of the “hair” precious gemstone.

If you read my blog last year, I mentioned purchasing a very nice Thomsonite This year the same vendor had three little trays of cabochons with fair prices, and we had fun rooting through these little trays. Tomorrow in daylight I will take some pictures of the finds of the day.

The GJX also has three smaller side areas of special interest One features special gems and Jewelry, one is Brazilian ,and one features the German jewelry makers. If you know anything about the history of cutting gemstones the Idar-Oberstein gem cutters were considered some of the best in the world. They became famous originally for working and carving agates. We saw a special display of two large carved blue/white agates (maybe 8″) with high detail, and shown with some other fabulous, creative mixed-gem jewelry.

I tried to get my hand blocking a carved Sonoran Sunset octopus. I wasn’t quick enough to keep Bonnie the Sonoran Sunrise (we’ve seen both names here) lover from spotting it. Another favorite carving of the day was a chess set carved out of ruby part of ruby-zoisite. The king and queen were whimsical with golden crowns, and each of the other pieces had golden musical instruments they were holding-harps, violins, etc. The board was black onyx and white onyx. Sorry we couldn’t take a picture, it was very cute.

Another favorite item of the day was a pink tourmaline necklace. It was comprised of several pink hearts maybe 2 -3 inches each separated by smaller pink beads. Several as is 5-7 of them. Each one would have made a great necklace by itself, together it was just jaw-dropping. We have some friends in our rock club who treasure tourmaline and we thought about them when we saw this.

These were the shows of diamonds, pearls, emeralds, tourmaline, ruby, tanzanite, and in general sparkle, sparkle, sparkle. But you may know that a good agate interests me more, so I hope to get back to see my kind of rocks tomorrow.

Tucson Gem Mineral and Fossil Shows 2014-Pink & Green=Lots of Green

The blue is Paraiba Tourmaline.

A room full of Quartz

Today we started out at the south end of the I-10 strip, at the Clarion and Howard Johnson Gem & Mineral shows. These are both typical hotel shows, with vendors in tents and in the courtyards in addition to all the vendors in the rooms. We bought some beautiful rhodochrosite beads and cabochons (Bonnie likes pink), and I found some great ammonite cabochons with wonderful iridescent reds, greens, and yellows.

Cavansite in Granite. Some call this K2

I purchased some other small slabs including some Cavansite encased in granite. These will be re-cut later. Some call this “K2” for the mountain which this alledgedly is mined near in Pakistan.

Happy me looking for the perfect Brazilian Tourmaline.

Careful searching=Treasure

I was pawing through an inviting tub of rutilated quartz looking for good pieces when I was advised by the vendor that he was looking for a single purchaser. He wanted someone to buy the whole 40 gallon tub for thousands of dollars. That left me out and I wandered on down the line.

Bonnie discovered a large rose quartz sphere that she really liked until she was told that it was $20,000. This exceeded her budget, even with all the spending money I have given her! (LOL)

We saw a man replenishing his tub of watermelon tourmaline. Unfortunately almost the whole tub was bits and pieces without complete green rinds which are so coveted for jewelry. A diligent search down deep in the tub provided a surprising, large watermelon with a full green rind and lovely pink all through it. This was approximately 3 inches long and 1 1/2″ wide. After verifying that we could buy just one piece, and not have to take the whole tub, we became excited. I haven’t seen this much rough anywhere at the show, and after speaking with the vendor, I became the proud owner! I know what your question is: A LOT!

Sphere of Rose. Got an extra 20G?

Tonnage of rocks.

tonsofrockstents

The pictures don't do these Rainbow Obsidian beauties justice. They were just spectacular in the sun.

Tucson Gem, Mineral & Fossil Shows 2014-A Rare Discovery.

A Copper included cube of Quartz inhabits a piece of float Copper

This will be a two part blog on the show today. The first blog (this One) is actually a continuation from yesterday, and later tonight I will post what we did today.

Quartz cluster in Float Copper

Many of you, including one person in particular, have been wondering what the special purchase was that I made yesterday from Keweenaw Gem and Gift. My friend Ken Flood the owner of KG&G had someone cutting a piece of float copper and they discovered an area that had quartz crystals imbedded in the native copper. Anyone who has cut copper knows how difficult it is to work with, especially float copper which is almost pure copper. Several slabs were made and small cabochons cut featuring the quartz crystals. In the photos shown the square one with the single quartz crystal is approximately 20mm square. The picture was taken with a light shining up through the crystal, showing a surprising cube with tiny copper inclusions. The other cabochon is approximately 20 x 24mm and has perfect quartz crystals that also have copper inclusions.

How rare is it to have Copper fill a vug full of Quartz Crystals? I have seen this in the past, but rarely pure Copper with beautiful Quartz. I know Copper in the Keweenaw filled volcanic voids as super heated copper-rich water, so it makes sense that Quartz-lined Vugs would also be filled. I’m happy for this occurance.

There are a few of these left, but some greedy person high graded them..sorry.

I can’t begin to tell you how rare these pieces are! Be in awe!

Tucson Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Shows 2014-You can’t Tell A Book By Its’ Cover

A small number of vendors at "The Rock Show".

It has cooled off a bit here in Tucson, but low 60’s is still good for us. We anticipated big crowds today, so we headed off to The Hotel Tucson City Center early, got a great parking space, had coffee, and got busy looking around.

I learned something new..Some Dino's were Chrome; Cool!

No comment...

feedthedino We love the Orange Trees in the courtyard and found the dinosaurs feeding on the fresh fruit.

$17,500

Meteorites for my buddy Chris.

I marveled at beautiful Ammonites as usual. It seemed there were more of these Ammonites than usual. I was told there indeed were more because it is Chinese New Year and the Chinese seem to favor these fossils. I saw several with “Sold” on them.

The main room at the HTCC is where you will many major fossils, including large impressive Ammonites. I saw a 9′ long fossil Swordfish called a Protosphyraena nitida (Late Cretaceous). The room seemed to be busy, but not overwhelming. We had a great time at this show and will return.

I have a couple very special things I found today.

As usual I had to curb Bonnie’s lust for Sonoran Sunrise, but I did allow her to look at some, so I did solve her addiction for another day.

Vendors occupy rooms as with other hotel shows.

No telling what may be in a room.

The vendors occupy rooms at the hotel, many with amazing displays. One of the oddest contained carved Mammoth Tusks. If you are a specimen collector, or meteorite collector, this is the show. I saw Geoff Notkin (The Meteorite Men), selling assorted meteorites, including Muonionalusta slabs from meteorites actually found on the show. There were loads of space rock to be had here.

I saw my buddy Ken Flood at his Keeweenaw Gem & Gift Booth. He was very busy as usual. He had something very special to show me. This is one of the items I have to show you tomorrow. I have been hunting rocks in Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula for many years , and have never encountered anything like I purchased from Ken. NOW you’re curious, I’ll bet.

After lunch we drove about 10 miles north of the city center to a new show called The Rock Show. The Rock Show used to be adjacent to Electric Park (now Kino), but the property was sold, and the show went seeking a new location. We were glad someone at Quartzsite told us about this which was good because is isn’t even listed in the big book of shows. We did find it in a small brochure, so decided to head out to see what was there.

Bracciated Mookaite

Bonnie getting her fix. Her comment "Someone put a lot of time into polishing this, so I should admire it."

The Fossil Fish.

A nice selection from someone's cast off pile.

My gently used new saw.

Aspenite and Mexican Crazy Lace.

Check out the Thomsonite I found.

The most amazing Larimar I've seen. I mentioned it yesterday. I think the soft yellow with the Larimar Island is remarkable and unique.

A small group of vendors comprised the show, some who previously sold goods at the old Rock Show, and some new vendors. This is a dirt lot, east of I-10, we exited at #251. It looked like about 10-15 tents, a few RVs, sparsely populated. It didn’t look real promising, but since we drove out there, we decided to look around. This was a Sunday afternoon and only a handful of shoppers were around. Vendors were friendly, and there was good conversation and relaxed personal attention. No imported goods, and hardly any beads. It was like a tiny version of Desert Gardens at Quartzsite. One vendor had a tub filled with random slabs and rocks, many agates and jaspers that I like. Digging through the water in this tub produced some real surprises including gem silica, Condor Agates, shadow agates, picture petrified wood, Queensland Agates, and other “good stuff”. So far this was my favorite few minutes of the day–I love to look through other people’s discards. I ended up with about 5 pounds of treasures.

Another vendor had something I have not seen before, called Aspenite. it is a silicated limonite with chrysocolla from Oro De Conception in north central Mexico. Some of this rock had been sent to the GIA for identification, and they identified the minerals, but said it had no name. Not much has been found, and I splurged on a single small cabochons because the orange and green colors were so striking! And I love the unusual. I also bought the Crazy Lace Agate cabochon that you see in the picture because I liked the colors.

One vendor had an assortment of lapidary equipment on his table, some new and some used. I was attracted to a used 6″ Wizard rock saw. These are sturdy little units from Diamond Pacific. This one had been gently used and was in good condition, and included a saw blade. This was my equipment purchase for this year. Even though I have a few saws (maybe 7 or 8), each one has key attributes. I might have to sell off another old 6″ saw.

I guess the moral of this story is “You can’t judge a book by it’s cover.” You never know when treasures might be lurking in out of the way places. I hope this show succeeds, but they will need to do much more publicity in future years.

Tucson Gem Mineral and Fossil Shows–Electric/Eclectic Park

The line forms early at the Gem Mall-Just get out of the, or get bloody from a "Bead Lady's" luggage.

The line forms early at the Gem Mall-Just get out of the way, or get bloody from a "Bead Lady's" luggage.

At 9:30 we were in line to start shopping at the Gem and Lapidary Wholesale (GLW) Show at two giant hard sided tents that are referred to as the Gem Mall. We got a mild soaking of rain before the opening time of 10:00, so everyone was a bit damp, and very eager for the anticipated bargains inside. We can always tell the people we call “Bead Ladies” because they have wheeled luggage of assorted sizes, up to the size of a small Volkswagen. I have no love for Bead Ladies blocking aisles, but it is a necessary evil for a show that is primarily beads, piles and piles of beads. Also, there are numerous booths full of gaudy and tacky imported goods. I am not saying that there are not quality goods at the show, but in general they are few and far apart. Most of these vendors are from various Asian countries, where apparently only cash is accepted. Do you think there might be some tax avoidance involved?.

Pictures are not allowed at this show and there are signs and security guards (picture police) on hand to enforce this rule. It’s a shame there are not the number of tax police as there are picture police. The country could use the extra cash.

I was alone in my quest today, as Bonnie went on adventures with our daughter who lives in Tucson. I walked down every aisle of these giant tents and saw very little of interest for myself. The Bead Ladies seemed happy in their frenzies at the bead tables. However, one dealer at this show had the most beautiful Larimar I have seen (and there has been a lot). I thought the price was quite high, but Larimar jewelry is very popular , so I did buy a couple pieces because they are so distinctive.

1979 Lincoln Town Car (18,000 original miles). Amazing things you see at a rock show!

Need a log?

Another one I'd like to get in my RV.

Art with rocks.

A Giant rock I noticed filled with Tourmaline Crystals, some Watermelon. See the size of this rock. It is at the far end of the petrified log standing tall.

TACKY!!!

This woman not passing up Sonoran Sunrise (again).

Sure; You can buy hides here.

You saw this in a previous picture of rock art. Anybody know what it is? It as the Tourmaline coloration, but I need input.

You saw this in a previous picture of rock art. Anybody know what it is? It is the Tourmaline coloration, but I need input.

I would have never thought of making an Amethyst Geode Bug-way cool.

I liked this statue.

Now this is my kind of show.

Calcite lights and Tables

Nice Chrysoprase.

The Collin's Petoskey Stone booth.

Bonnie & I met up later at the Kino Gem and Mineral Show (better known as Electric Park). Happily, these shows are not far apart. I don’t know how to describe this show, it is so eccentric. This year many vendors were here who previously had been in the RV Rock show across the street, since that piece of property has been taken over by the hospital for a helicopter pad and whatever else they have planned. You can never tell what you might see at this show. Everything from tacky foreign imports, guns, rugs, steer skulls, statuary, rough rock, slabs, gemstones, tables, shirts, arnica lotion, rock & gem tools, machines, and of course giant amethyst geodes. And massive amounts of Beads. Beads. Beads.

This show is both inside large tents and outside in show tents. I think I love this show because the treasures are so well hidden and I am so happy when I find something! We saw our good friends from the Traverse City area, Mary and her son Hubert Collins, selling Petoskey stones as usual. Mary is a long-time friend from our Grand Traverse Area Rock and Mineral Club.

I took a a variety of pictures to allow you to get the feel of this show. I took one picture of some beautiful malachite and realized that another friend from our Michigan rock club Dave Perry was in my picture! Later Bonnie met up with Karen Perry in the parking lot. It is a small world, bringing people together through a love of Rocks!

At a rock show??

Like this is a natural fossil...

Nice D-Bone and crap at Wade's

Yes there are antique guns...

Low crowds and piles of rocks (bags of geodes)

What a small world. I took this picture and saw my friend from our little rock club appear. in it

What a small world. I took this picture and saw my friend Dave from our Michigan rock club was in it!

Printstone from Australia

Gaspieite Australia Obicular Granite. I need new kitchen counters, but how do I take this home in the RV?

This is odd. A jade dino guarding buckets.

This is odd. A jade dino guarding Turkish Olive buckets and a pack saddle. Only at this show.

As usual Wade’s Wood and Rocks had wonderful dinosaur bone and a large pile of coprolite if you wanted some “crappy” stuff. Bonnie got some petrified wood beads here, which you seldom find. I found a small gemmy dinosaur bone which I bought for future jewelry-making.

We wandered around Kent’s Tools, which is always an interesting spot to look for things that you didn’t know you needed. They have more specialty pliers than you can imagine! Always busy, the line was pretty short today. Enjoy the picture from today’s adventures. We appreciate all the positive feedback we are getting on Facebook! Stay tuned…

Oh I almost forgot. The Lincoln is stored in Phoenix and is only brought out for the rock shows every year. So its a rock getter.

Tucson Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Shows 2014-Finding Something New

lightedcrystals

So far the largest Geode.

Today, all the shows at the hotels on “The Strip” opened. This is a row of hotels on the service road on the West side of I-10. We favor a parking lot south of the Riverpark Inn. (all day $5). We walked all the way north,then headed back toward where we parked. Experience has taught us that the rock bags get heavier as you go, so start light and work back as they fill. crystals

As we walked from the lot I spotted Mike Carlson, the author of the fabulous and beautiful book, “The Beauty of Banded Agates”. We chatted a while, catching up on various topics. Snob Appeal Jewelry participated as vendors at the past two International Agate shows, where we met Mike.

Nicely carved (and curved)

I did stop to say hi to my buddy, and agate dealer, Jeff Anderson of Dwarves Earth Treasures at his booth at the Rapa River Show, before walking north.

The first show we visited was the Globe X show at the Days Inn. As with all hotel shows vending takes place in rooms, tents, and courtyards. The aisles are crowded with an array of rock and non-rock goods. It is not uncommon to see rugs next to gemstones. It’s all part of the fun.

Saw lots of Lapis.

I’ll attempt to remember what I purchased and where, but as anyone that comes here knows, the mind gets overloaded, so I apologize in advance for my “oldsheimers”. Bonnie says she can’t help much..”Where did you buy those little opals?” Bonnie: “I don’t know, it all runs together.” That made me feel A LOT better.

Kammereite

I was very excited about a couple items. I was just wandering along and on a table outside a room was a rock I did not know. It was a reddish-purple and light green, a very striking and unusual combination. I asked the man in the hotel room, and he said in was Kammererite, a stone from a new secret locale in the mountains in the northern part of India. It also can be found in Turkey and California, among other places. It is a red form of Clinochlore– I liked the stuff. We always like the rare and unusual, so I bought a piece of rough.

Watermelon plus a blue filled Tourmaline.

The priciest purchase today was a Watermelon Tourmaline slice. I bundled it with a piece of Blue Tourmaline inside pink Tourmaline. A couple real stunners.

Hotel Courtyards are filled with rocks.

Bullseye Malachite I selected.

After the Globex show we continued south to the Rapa River Show and the Pueblo Gem and Mineral Show (Riverpark Inn), looking at and purchasing random items of interest. The RiverPark show is alsways interesting because they feature massive quartz crystals and large amethyst geodes as well as amethyst furniture (tables). At some of these vendors you would think you were in Bedrock. The most impressive thing was a large Jade table with 6 rock benches that you could take home for $12,000. If I had the money to buy it, reinforce my house, ship this tonnage, and try to find someone foolish enough to put it in my house, I would have bought this in a heartbeat. Oh wait–I think that was lawn furniture!

A gem grade amethyst table. About 3' across.

A cursory look at these three shows took about 4 hours. We will go back later to look at hallways and items we missed I had to go back to J.O.G.S. and pick up a parcel of Bullseye Malchite and some assorted Craft Stones.

Even though the Tucson shows are exciting and fun, they are also quite mind-numbing and wearing, especially on aging bodies. Where I used to go from daylight to dark, I really need to quit early in the afternoon now. This is why we spread out our shopping over the two weeks of the shows. Though there is a certain frenzy to get there first and have the “best pick”, you just can’t do everything the first day!