Category Archives: Rock Shopping

Tucson Shows-OK: One More Blog-Sad You’re Over

Way different than a week ago.

The dealers have moved out, but the rental tents remain to be taken away.

This past Saturday we had a cople hours and decided to see what was still open at the Hotel Strip along I-10.

we found free parking in a lot that is normally $5. Rapa river and some of the Riverpark Inn Vendors were still open, but most were packing up. This is sometimes the best time to find bargains. Vendors would normally want to sell things than move them.

This one did not find a home.

I can imagine this Amethyst Plate saying “Don’t forget me”.

This woman seems to be waiting for the moving to be finished so she could go home.

I took a few pictures of the cleaning out process, sat in the abandoned lobby of the Riverpark Inn. I recall earlier in the week there were big crowds and the excited din of the show. While Bonnie hiked down to the other end of the Strip to find one certain vendor that she needed something from, I sat and reflected (What if I just stay here and wait for next year’s show to open?). it was very sad for me that we could no longer go on our daily search for rocks, minerals and fossils, but I also understand that all the vendors wanted to get home to their various countries and States.

Poor (Literally) Don bumming in the Hotel Lobby.

Bonnie returned after a half hour (It’s a long way to the other end of the strip), and found me moping there in the lobby. She was bumming because the vendor she looked for was closed. We looked around and came upon one bead dealer that was so excited we came, he was deeply discounting his high quality beads, trying to talk Bonnie into buying every one. She picked out a few strands that were priced at 1/4 their earlier show prices.

giant Ruby in Fucshite globe going back to storage for next year.

Some Morrocan’s had a box of Ammonites drilled for beading that they were practically giving way. We dug for some, and they were pleased to take some cash from us.

I can’t recall buying anything, but I probably did; I was happy watching the interaction between Bonnie and that Chinese Bead Dealer; he was really trying to get her to release more cash.

Anyway gang, here are some final images from our last day.

Tucson Rock, Mineral, and Fossil Showcase-The Main Event Part 2

87 and sunny

The display cases boggle the mind at the Main Show, as do the Dealers.

Today I continue with the story, in photos, of our visit to the Main event show at the Tucson Convention Center. This show caps off over two weeks of exploring the 40+ shows in the Tucson Showcase. We are sad to see the show come to an end, but to be honest I am both mentally and physically drained. We had a great time and I’m happy we could tow you along by showing you small bits of the shows.

The G&LW (Gem & Lapidary Wholesalers) was closing up. We have learned from past experience that the last day at this show the dealers are in a hurry to pack up and get out of there. They really don’t want to take goods back to wherever they came from and the beads may sell for 1/4 to 1/3 the costs they were at the beginning of the shows. We sort of grabbed and go’d on one side of the table, while the dealers packed up on the other side. Bonnie was a shopping fool, and made cash offers, you would not believe; that were accepted.

An amazing Amethyst specimen for sale at Collectors Edge.

Columbus Pearls-Yep, Guard stationed nearby.

Show floor.

Turquoise & Diamond Necklace

As we drifted through the Main Show we saw a special display honoring the past Carnegie Award Members including our friend Dr. George Robinson. We sure miss George (and his wife Susan) being around The A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum.

Continue reading →

Tucson Rock, Mineral, & Fossil Showcase-The Main Show-Part 1

The floor of the Tucson Convention Center featured the among booth from Collectors Edge, the largest dealer of fine specimen rocks and minerals in Tucson.

Closeup of the Collectors Edge Display that ook up big real estate on the convention floor.

The Main Show heralds the end of the Tucson Shows every year. I am happy to have survived this mega-show, and pleased with all the awesome new things we purchased. I expect over the rest of the month to show you many amazing pieces of jewelry made from the rocks, minerals and fossils acquired as we roamed the 40 plus shows.

Even though the theme of the show was “Shades of Blue” there were many other shades also.

That’s a great Labradorite on the top shelf.

Tourmaline is everywhere.

There’s blue in this case.

Amazing Malachite.

Carved in Rainbow Obsidian by Master Carver Francisco Sotomayor, the gun, pillow, and bullets are one piece! “Peacemaker”

“Skull Dagger #2” (2014). Another Masterwork by Francisco Sotomayor. Obsidian

“Skull Dagger #1” bu Francisco Sotomayor (2014) Obsidian

Amazingly carved from Black Obsidian by Francisco Sotomayor (Obsidian is volcanic GLASS folks). Other carvers would not even attempt these things.

Aquamarine

Quartz on Adventurine

An interesting display-Notice the autographed Babe Ruth Baseball.

Agates for sale..

If you have read the blog each day, and ogled the pictures I have taken, you only begin to understand what goes on in the largest show of its’ kind here in Tucson. You must come here and see for yourself. As usual, we are over-budget on our spending, but we always expect this, as Bonnie and I see many things we never knew we needed.

The main event at the Tucson Convention Center was packed and will be even more packed this weekend as locals, Rockhounds, and those in the gem, jewelry, and fossil trade visit the “Big Show”. The Tucson Gem & Mineral Society have been putting on the largest, oldest, and most prestigious gem and mineral show in the world since the mid-50s. Their stated goal is the promotion of rocks and minerals in every form and including Geology, Mineralology, Lapidary,and Allied earth sciences. They certaining accomplish this goal every year. The TGMS was established in 1946, and Has grown to be the king of Clubs throughout the world.

the Logan Sapphire, at 42.3 cts, the largest mounted gemstone in the National Gem Collection! It is surrounded by diamonds, and mined in Sri Lanka. You will remeber this from my AGTA Post, but this is a better picture of the amazing red tinge in the blue.

I have only brushed the surface of what takes place in Tucson. Today and tomorrow I will post many photos from the Convention Center Show. Some I will have captions on, and some I will not, but you will still enjoy them all.

Check back tomorrow for part 2.

The

Tucson Rock & Gem Shows-The Miner’s Co-op Grew

Sunny and 83

The Miner’s Co-op is a real Rockhound’s treat

A return to the remote Miners Co-op show brought a real surprise. There were three times the vendors than two weeks ago. This show seems more like Quartzsite than Tucson with all the tailgating and rocks, slabs, and cabs on tables right out in an open lot. I love this format.

Bonnie and I found treasures at bargain prices everywhere. I bought cabs, and Bonnie was hauling around a five pound Chrysocolla rock she liked the looks of. I have learned to keep quiet, even though I have a good supply at home already. Good Chrysocolla seems to be in short supply in Tucson this year.

I found a few pieces of quality Dino Bone at one vendor, picked a few slabs at another vendor, and just chatted with the vendors. I love to pick the brains of other Rockhounds and harvest any trivial knowledge they possess.

You can tell when it is warm in Tucson when water in slab tubs is replaced by mister-sprayers. The water actually can get so hot it burns the hands.

This blog actually involves several days and a couple trips to the Co-op. The last tme I was there, I found a fellow Wingate Pass Agate Lover. This stuff is very rare and Kevin cuts a few pieces each year for Tucson Customers.

The main event show started on the 11th, and we attended and will show you tomorrow. I tell you this because one of the rock-related book dealers had a wonderful book I was perusing called, Collecting Agates and Jaspers of North America by Patti Polk. I mentioned to Bonnie this would be a great gift for me sometime. I swear this is a true Kharma story. I saw the same book in a booth at the co-op; the very booth Kevin was in, and there sat Patti Polk, the author. I bought an autographed copy on the spot. I could not believe this coincidence; or was it? (Twilight Zone Music Playing). Get yourself a copy. It’s a wonderful book, and for those that cannot read, there are lots of fine pictures.

Kevin had some Pietersite from Namibia, I had not seen, that was black with yellow in it. I bought rough and will show you when I cut it. The name is “Golden Sky” var. Pietersite. There is a good supply of rough at this booth. It’s very cool stuff.

Patti Polk & Kevin Kessler

If you are a real Rockhound, and not a Bead Lady or jewelry buyer, this is the show for you.

Tucson Gem, Mineral and Fossil Shows-Beads and G&LW

55 sunny

Gary at Caberlight sells his innovative LED lights.

A pleasant day but a bit cold (icy cold for the locals, T-shirt for me). We started at The Best Bead Show (that’s the name of it). I needed a couple new LED lights and Bonnie was in need of some supplies for kumihimo, a braiding material she has been playing around with. We were surprised to see that there were no outside tents like there was when we were here 2 years ago. We thought they might have expanded their space inside, but no, it turns out it was half the size of when we were there last.

Bonnie wanted to go there because this show has lots of seed beads, including new shapes that they keep coming out with. Who knew that those little things come in rectangles or triangles with two holes, or superduos or miniduos or rizos, or just plain o’s. Anyway, I was happy to find coffee and a bench, and she was happy to buy “stuff”.

The piles of beads abound.

After the Bead Show we hopped the Gem Show Shuttle over to the Wholesale Show at G&LW’s (Gem & Lapidary Wholesalers) giant tent, that I showed you on a previous blog. Really you are not suppose to photo anything, but I had a friend that took a couple; That’s my story anyway.

I was sitting in a “Guy Chair” waiting for Bonnie to get through this line.

These were really “Bling”. I did not enhance this photo.

The G&LW show has much buy/sell merchandise from China, India, Taiwan, Pakistan, Austrailia, and many other places with vendors being of many nationalities. I have trouble understanding many of them, and they sometimes have trouble understanding me, but they all understand CASH! Most dealers at this show take credit cards and/or checks. We stocked up on ribbon and leather necklaces and some other premade items. There are few rough rocks at this show other than faceting rough, so I can move pretty fast for a guy with a bad leg. Tables stacked with beads, with the Bead Ladies attacking them with a furor reminiscent of piranha attacking. It seems the more Bead Ladies at the booth, the more it attracts other Bead Ladies. The show was busy even though it was midweek. I took a picture of a line Bonnie stood in. What was nice was a handy corral of resting chairs in the next aisle, and I was not the only guy there!

Shiny beads seem to be the product of the day, both faceted, manufactured simulates, and true gemstones. Even I was able to recognize that there were many more shapes and designs than in previous years. Dealers were in full competition to attract CASH!

Skulls with their heads blown off like that add on TV.

One funny thing I saw were carved skulls but these were different in the top was blown off like the ad you see on TV where the top of people’s heads get blown off. I found some very nice Botswana cabochons and that was about all I bought.

Here are a few things from the shows the last few days. It pays to have a loupe and a light, as there are many surprises in some show treasures. Quartz with inclusions come from Mina Gerais, Brazil (AKA Lodelite), and often contain hidden treasures, if you can find them and you have the CASH!

Lodelite (notice the Quartz Crystal in the Quartz) Very awesome?

Red Rutile in Quartz

Notice the crystal in the grass?.

Inclusions in this are probably Manganese.

Nice Ametrine

Star Rutile is very coveted.

Lodelite with Manganese inclusions

Sphalerite with Galena.

Nice colors for Botswana Agate.

Colorful Botswana Agate

I know a guy who has these hidden in his room. I cannot tell you where!

Tucson Gem Shows-Kents Tools

If you attend the Tucson Shows you expect Kent’s Tools to have a large display at Kino. This year the have only a small display of shop tools and assorted things for shoppers like small plastic envelopes and such.

Have no fear Kent’s fans. You can drive to their own new tool shop located at 2745 N. First Avenue, not far from their old permanent location in town. The have hustled and bustled to move their normal inventory that was always on display at the Kino show, so if you still need those hard-to-find drills, buffs, bags and boxes, pliers, tools, whatzits and doodads, go to the store. It is located at a separate show in the Tucson Show Guide.

This blog is a short version of my normal adventure blog, but I had to rest up from all my exploring! Besides it was cold again yesterday, and we tried to stay inside. Bonnie found a bead show. Luckily I finally found a “guy chair” there. (Yawn.) I promise a new blog tomorrow.

The reason they had to move from their original locale is their store was on one side of the road and their storage on the other. They are widening Grant (?) and the storage building was being removed as we understand it.

See you later today.

The Tucson Shows are Open

The bead ladies busy at the JOGS Show.

January 28th, 2016 low 70’s and sunny.

Piles of gemstones

The 2016 Tucson Rock, Mineral and Fossil Shows have started. We found ourselves today at the JOGS Show and the 22nd Street Show.

JOGS is a fairly large show selling both Wholesale and Retail. To purchase Wholesale requires business credentials. The JOGS show has large selections in many categories, beads, gemstones, cabochons, finished jewelry, stone carvings, and display items, and other miscellaneous items. Photography is prohibited, but I did snap a couple shots, with hopes that the photography police would not arrest me. Bonnie and a friend went in search of beads, and found lots. This is the show where I buy the treated druzy quartz that are so popular. Outside the JOGS building we saw a large Madagascar petrified wood log carved into a bathtub shape. Or it could be a boat, or a beer cooler. It was big, and would hold a lot of beer; that’s all we know. There must have been some use for it; that’s a lot of work for a Superbowl kegger. When we go back to the JOGS Show, I’ll ask.

Fossils Galore.

Sweet Home Rhodocrosite.

Dwayne Hall

After lunch we went to the 22nd Street Show. We have enjoyed this show ever since they opened a few years back. We always ask if we can take pictures. A highlights of the show are the big dinosaur fossils, the chance to visit with the vendors, as well as seeing some of the stars from the Weather Channel Show the Prospectors.

Amanda makes me look bad, but that’s all right.

She looks best in her booth at the show selling tha good Colorado treasure.

She looks best in her booth at the show selling those beautiful Colorado treasure.

Amanda Anderson is our favorite, (and the best looking Prospector). She had some wonderful finds from her adventures including some great smokey quartz which you can see in the picture. We are so happy she did not get buried in that hole this year. You had to have seen that particular show on the Weather Channel.

Dwayne really looks like a Prospector, and we chatted about a crystal rhodochrosite specimen from the Sweet Home Mine. A beautiful gemmy piece, it was in the $6000 range. To be honest, that’s a bargain price. I’d buy it in a heartbeat if I collected specimens.

Canadian Pliosaur

RUN, FORREST, RUN!

Abertasaurus Sarcophagus

Triebold Paleontology had a few dinosaur specimens, a small Tyranosaurus, and a hungry water creature posed ready to eat a turtle. Many other fossils were on display, small as well as large–fossil fish, cephalopods, trilobites, megaladon teeth.

Enchodus petrosus

A little polished Rose Quartz

Iguana

We enjoyed talking with Robert Stratton who had Damascus steel knives with gemstone handles and knife sheaves made from elephant skin, ostrich legs, caiman skin, and many other creatures. The dinosaur bone and mastadon teeth stones in his handles caught my eye and we enjoyed hearing his story of how he got started.

I didn’t buy much, but Bonnie got some geodes, fossils, and crystals for upcoming projects.

Quartzsite-The Rocks We Found

I’m continuing my adventures in Quartzite today by showing what I found. Some rocks I just admired, while others I brought back to cut. Not much chit-chat in this blog, just fine pictures. The first series of pictures are things we saw:

Why did not I think of this? Thow a few random pebbles in some dirt, add a digging stick, and you don't have to waste time going out in the desert picking rocks.

Why did not I think of this? Throw a few random pebbles in some dirt, add a digging stick, and you don’t have to waste time going out in the desert picking rocks. Great for the city kids, I guess.

Pink Opalite

Even those Moroccans have a sense of humor.

Bonnie was looking at all this Turquoise and dyed Magnesite.

Tables of pretty malachite, some contained azurite.

A big ultra rare Wingate Pass Agate. $1200 and worth it. I make jewelry and seldom collect specimens, but I was real tempted by this beauty!

This series of pictures is some of what I now own.

Bumblebee (Not Jasper) cab. this one was ripe with silica and looks like the end of the world.

More Gembone

Dinosaur Bone–The red stuff; Just look at those Cell Agates. WOW factor for sure.

Mostly Royal Imperial Jasper

Remember Bonnie dumster diving in a previous blog. Here's one of the pieces of Pink Amethyst Lace Agate and a pendant made from similar material.

Remember Bonnie dumpster diving in a previous blog. Here’s one of the pieces of Pink Amethyst Lace Agate she was digging for, and a pendant made from similar material. Purple and pink, Bonnie will dig for that!

Random slabs from someones scrap bin (if you can believe it). That’s what’s so fun about these shows.

Red Crazy Lace

Colorful Condor Agates

Pink transparent Gem dino Bone. Yeah, I spent the bucks on this, but I have a jewelry project for this one.

Pink transparent Gem dino Bone. Yeah, I spent the bucks on this, but I have a jewelry project in mind for this one.

Quartzsite 2016-Day 2

Lepidolite

T-Rocks Yard in Quartzsite

I apologize for not posting yesterday. I know you were waiting with baited breath! Someone, (me) forgot the charging plug for the computer, so forgive me and I’ll try to make up for it.

Bonnie diving for Pink Amethyst Lace

A place we never miss in Quartzsite is T-Rocks on West Main Street, a permanent rough rock vendor owned by Theresa and Mike Thompson, friends of ours from Calumet, Michigan. Guaranteed, they have the largest permanent selection of rough in Quartzsite. Unlike the snowbirds, they are always there: if you pass through town, you should stop. You can get just about anything there. Bonnie jumped into a cage, dumpster-diving style, to search to the bottom for the best Pink Amethyst Lace Agate. She sent me off to get a spray bottle and a bucket for the finds. Together we sorted, spritzed, pitched and narrowed our choices to the best ones we saw.

I watched an artist, Gary Graham, glueing Kyanite onto a cow skull which was partially decorated with pink howlite and turquoise howlite. We talked about what he might use in the eyes, moonstone, or red coral (simulated). These were carefully crafted, each piece fit closely together, with no grout applied to fill gaps, like we have seen elsewhere. The skulls are sold for $300-$500 at his Metal Sign Shop Booth. Sorry Gary, that Kyanite reflecting light messed with my camera.

These belt buckles were amazing. Will they hold your pans up, or pull them down. I love these. You should buy one.

The biggest highlight of this show was Green Velvet Antiques. The friendly lady, Barbara Levine, showed us two treasured belt buckles. One was 7 pounds of untreated Fox turquoise, surrounded by silver. It was by Roy Buck, Navajo, and was appraised at $24000. It is offered for sale for only $11000. Barbara let Bonnie hold it for the picture, with the admonition, “Don’t drop it”. The other belt buckle was a carved Apache Indian of Red Mountain turquoise, available for $6000. If you decide to buy one, please let her know you saw it here first. And after you buy it let me know, will these hold your pants up, or pull your pants down? Inquiring minds want to know!

Barrels and Pallets of rock

Purple Lapidolite rocks catch Bonnie’s eye.

Wonder what the fronts look like?

Like this

We went to Tyson Wells and Prospector’s Panorama (there are no wells at Tyson Wells). These shows are at the opposite end of the same road as The Desert Garden’s Show. Parking is a major issue at this show. People seem to park everywhere, even in front of exit/entrance gates, where they soon get a ticket and a tow. There are other shows in the area, so there is always a mixture of flea market buyers and rock, bead, and jewelry buyers, all mixed together.

You do know when they cook Amethyst it turns orange, didn’t you

You never know what can be found in the area of these shows. I took many pictures because a picture it worth 1000 words. I mentioned how bizarre these shows can be, so the photos are my proof. Tomorrow I’ll focus on the weirdness of the place: today mostly on rocks.

At Tyson Wells we visited El Paso Rocks, with the largest poundage of rocks at the Quartzsite shows, 50 gallon drums of rough everywhere, as well as the bins of assorted slabs, and various imported goods. Bonnie searched for some bargain beads, but came away with little. You’ll enjoy the huge quartz Arkansas crystals mined by Colemans.

We spent 2-3 hours exploring these shows. I bought a gift t-shirt. and that was about it.

The day wasn’t quite used up, so we went back to Desert Gardens, which is the real rock show, but vendors were not busy. We did find a purple Laguna Agate and we had a great time digging through tumbled bits and pieces, looking for jaspers, dendritic jaspers, and Bonnie even found an opal, which she said, this shouldn’t be here, but I said “Put it in the bucket!” We also saw a remarkable large polished piece of Wingate Pass Agate, free of fractures, and available for $1200. This was a stunning piece that should be in a museum. Bonnie made a last minute run for a few more beads. I’ll show you more stuff tomorrow. The internet is very slow, or I’d show you more.

On our way around town we saw numerous RVs coming to town for a big RV show this weekend. Lots of million dollar rigs around. I’ve been lusting after one, but the jewelry making business just hasn’t been that good yet! And apparently I didn’t win the PowerBall Jackpot, so better be happy with the RV I have!

Hallelujah Rockhounding

This sign leads to some awesome rock picking.

Some of the best rock pickin around.

My last blog mentioned Black Hat Trading in Deming, New Mexico. It is owned and operated by the Searcy Family, Jan, James and Jess. When we were in Quartzsite Bonnie talked with him and was intrigued because he said that he takes people out on field trips in the area, so she carefully kept the business card in case we came through the area again.

So, indeed we find ourselves in Deming, and we lucked out to come just when the Deming Rockhound Roundup was held. While we talked at the Black Hat Trading booth, he invited us to go over to his store and told me where to look for some agate I was after. I was lured by the promise of old Luna Agate. The Luna Agate turned out to be blue agate, not quite what I was after, but that didn’t matter, because I found lots of other stuff, including Fun!

Old buckets buried in the sand burrs. I hear that Angelic Note that is played when the heavens open up.

HALLELUJAH!!!!!

North of Deming, on Silver City Highway, you might overlook this if you didn’t know to look for it. As soon as you pull in the driveway the curiosity begins. The front of the shop is surrounded by crates that hold assorted local agates and rocks from the Big Diggins, Fluorite Hill, Baker Ranch, and other agate-rich hunting grounds. Of course there are lots of petrified wood, and assorted rhyolites including the local banded rhyolite bedrock. I was encouraged to “Go out back and check the buckets.” Certain buckets were off-limits, but when I went and took a look, the Hallelujah Chorus played in my head. I would rather hunt a bunch of old dirty buckets than take a chance at unfamiliar hunting grounds. (Besides, I have a bad leg…) Now let me tell you, I know these buckets had been sitting there for 2-3 years, because when I tried to move one, the bucket would disintegrate from UV deterioration. The buckets were filled with leaves and had sunk into the ground 2-3 inches. Hundreds of 5 gallon buckets, everywhere you looked, made this a roll of the dice as to which one to dig through. Rocks purchased from old collections were brought back and left in rows in the sand burr-infested grounds, waiting for future work. I kept an eye open for snakes, rodents, and unwelcome spiders before I stuck my hand in the buckets. Many of these were so dirty I couldn’t tell what they were until I sprayed them with water.

One bucket to set on is a good idea.

My cursory search produced some great cutting and jewelry making material, both from local sources and around the world. Since this was old material I expected to find some quality local rocks that were picked up many years ago before I was not disappointed when I found some nice banded agate from the Big Diggings, some bryzoa material, colorful petrified wood and chrysocolla. I was overwhelmed by the amount of stuff, and the good quality. I had one bucket to sit on, one to sort into as I moved down through the buckets in front of me and another for the rocks I wanted to purchase. I had lots of fun, but I limited myself to one bucket to go home with me. When you have already been to Quartzsite, Tucson, Deming’s Rockhound Roundup, the RV is pretty loaded.

I was not in the market, but if you wanted to buy a big rock for your rock garden, wow, this would be a fun place to shop. Bonnie asked what time of year to come back to see their flowers in bloom, as this was clearly not the peak season for this, but May-June would be great. Meantime while I was digging through dirty buckets Bonnie was studying and shopping inside where they had an extensive bead room, and lots of kumihimo supplies and other bead findings. And they do classes on several beading topics, so it sounds like an inviting place to spend a while!

If you are in that area, go to Black Hat Trading. This is the kind of rock shop that a TV network might visit if they were doing a reality show on “Rockin’ Rock Shops”, with a family of rockhounds, an old timer, a shop full of equipment, outside piles to explore and a store full of treasures. Can it get any better?