Category Archives: Rock shows

Quartzsite-Let’s See What We Got

Olivenite-Caution should be taken with this stuff as it is a Copper Arsenate.

Cheetah Jasper with Apatite inclusions.

Returning to Tucson after 2 1/2 days exploring the Desert Gardens Show and several other locales around Quartzsite, we re-lived our adventures by taking a close look at our spoils.

A few of the very fine Imperial Jasper slabs I selected.

Cobra Stone-India. Some is wet so you can see the color better.

Cobra Stone-India (AKA Coquina Jasper). Some is wet so you can see the color better.

There were several slabs I picked out from at least that many dealers. One was an interesting stone from India called “Cobra Stone”. By looking at it you can see why it got its’ name. In actuality the reddish matrix is filled with a multitude of clams. When the stone is oriented and cut the little clams look like cobras.

I also mentioned the scarce crystal Rhodocrosite from Argentina I stumbled across. There is some left, but I picked the top pieces I saw. You can still find this beautiful pink material around, but is is uncommon. Generally a story comes with a rock purchase. With this Rhodocrosite we were told that Chinese bought the Rhodocrosite Mine from an unwilling to sell miner. The wrote him a check for so much money, he just walked away. The

Crystal Rhodocrosite ( color not enhanced)

Chinese converted this mine into an open pit operation in search of precious metals and rare earth minerals, doing so much damage, and violating so many mining rules, that they got evicted. In the meantime their dynamite destroyed a wonderful gemstone mine.

Coprolite-Yes I did indeed buy this crap.

I found some great Apatite-included Cheetah jasper at T-Rocks. This is actually spoil rock from the Brazilian Apatite Mines. It used to be just left in the discard pile until someone realized what great cutting material it is. The rock varies widely in color and pattern, but nice Cheetah Pattern is what most look for. The beautiful Apatite is a bonus.

Condor. The colors were classic Condor. Some of this is damp, but the Az sun just dried the slabs off immediately.

I bought a couple pieces of Condor Agate. I usually am not excited by most of this stuff, but occasionally I find such beautiful coloration that it just screams “CONDOR”. I found these two pieces, out of the whole box, begged me to pick them out.

Pickings were very good, but there were no crowds. Maybe shoppers are waiting for the week end.

All these rocks we bought with the plan of turning them into the top-quality wire wrapped stone jewelry that we sell. You might not be able to see it yet, but come back over future months to see the results! Like us on Facebook to keep up with new items and all our blogs from Tucson.

A nice slab of Purple Opal (AKA Bertrandite, AKA Tiffany Stone)

Some of the deluxe Aventurine from near Pikes Peak.

Some of the deluxe Amazonite from near Pikes Peak.

A fist sized piece of superb Chrysocolla picked from the 60# I found at the Desert Gardens Show.

Quartzsite Rocks and Redneck Guitars

Amazonite crystals.

T-Rock's Garden.

Clear sunny skies greeted us as we arrived in Quartzsite for Day 2 of our rock shopping adventures. We continued to walk the aisles of Desert Gardens searching for the best stones to make our jewelry, and found an amazing ammonite display from Lake George Colorado. They told us this is one of the only area on earth that smoky quartz crystals and amazonite are found together. We spoke to the miner and he related that after many years of mining amazonite he hit a four foot by four foot pocket that contained beautiful museum quality specimens of amazonite with smoky quartz crystals. He said it took three years of cleaning to get these specimens ready for sale. Combination specimens can be valued at many thousands of dollars. Larger amazonite specimens were in the $150-$500 range. We bought several small bags of pieces and chunks to make cabochons and jewelry.

amozonsmoky1

Digging through the many bins of water-covered slabs led to cold and wrinkled hands. There wasn’t too much that I didn’t already have, but I found a few treasures. One dealer had some lovely crystal rhodochrosite. This material is quite scarce and is unlike the common pink/black/white banded rhodochrosite in that it is quite translucent and has no banding. The Argentina mine that this chunk came from was purchased by the Chinese for mining of precious metals. The mine has been converted to an open pit operation that virtually ruined all of the superb rhodochrosite that had previously been mined there. The Chinese were after other materials, and lapidarists are in mourning over the loss of this great gemstone source.

The water was icy in the morning.

Quartzsite is like a redneck garage sale.

The redneck display champ.

We always get a laugh over some of the things we see in the flea market area near Tyson Wells. You always see an array of random redneck relics. If it is something you didn’t know you needed, you can find it in the flea market at Quartzsite. My redneck winner of the day was a guy with a card table containing animal skin rugs and banjo and guitar shaped facsimiles made from license plates. He must have ties to the Midwest because two were Michigan license plates. Interestingly, one of them is a non-expiring trailer license which costs $75. I also saw under his cardtable a pair of green antique glass net floats. Where do people get this stuff?

We had to return to T-Rock to pick up our purchases from yesterday and marveled at their rock garden of random large rocks encircled by large wire trees decorated by large glass balls similar to the ones under the guys card table. We gave up the shopping early and returned to the banks of the Colorado River.

We will return to our home base in Tucson tomorrow. When I get back to my portable photo studio I will take some detailed pictures of the treasures we purchased. For all of you who are coming to the Quartzsite shows, I left lots still on the tables–happy picking.

Quartzsite

Shopping the Quartzsite Rock Shows 2014

A pleasant 4 hour drive from Tucson, the town of Quartzsite (where there is no Quartzite in Quartzsite) is a small oasis in the desert mountains about 20 miles from the California border. The town explodes during the winter months with Snowbirds, Rockhounds,flea market shoppers, and RV fans. The giant RV shows are in full swing, but there is some early rock picking around also.

Desert Gardens

Later in the month the Powwow opens as does the Tyson Wells Show, but our favorite show in Quartzsite has always been the Desert Gardens Show (there are no gardens at Desert Gardens). This is a tent/RV tailgate show in a large dusty lot along the freeway. Bargains can be found by the astute buyer, and always lots of interesting rock. I go to Desert Gardens mainly for the rough rock, but other hidden treasures can often be found.

The REAL gem amongst all the rocks at T-Rock.

Our first stop in town was T-Rock that our Upper Peninsula friends Mike and Theresa Thompson own. I found some lovely lavender opal, and several other random pieces of gemstone rough. They are open all year in case you come through off season. I’ll be hitting that place again.

Real nice color in this bucket of Chrysocolla.

At the third booth we looked at, Bonnie seemed to be lusting over a couple small buckets of Chrysocolla. I recongnized this to be old stock from the Ray Mine. You would swear it was Turquiose, it was so blue. I guessed there was around 60-70 pounds. Bonnie said we could keep some and sell some, so I bought it all.

How do we get this home?

We looked at a 4400# piece of Tiger Iron as well as a piece of Gaspeite I would guess to be about 800-1000# at the Australian Outback Mining booth. Peanut wood was available, but not as good a quality as ten years ago. There was one very unusual Peanut Wood piece that was combined with Mookaite. We were told that it came from their area where they mine Mookaite. No Peanut Wood was available last year in the way of Peanut Wood, so even though we did not get any, it will make other’s happy.

What is more fun than buying rocks? Talking to the dealers; picking their brains, so to speak. You can learn so much and fill your trivia banks just by chit-chat.

Next I spotted some Royal Imperial Jasper slabs that the dealer had acquired in a collection he purchased. Amazing, nice stuff indeed. Expect some Royal Imperial Jasper jewelry in the future.

We saw some buckets of crap (Coprolite), but did not buy any.

Coprolite (petrified poo)

4400#!!! Look over Bonnie's shoulder for large Gaspeite.

We did not finish looking at the Garden’s show today, but was have another day. I’ll keep you posted.

Gaspeite.

Mookaite/Peanut Wood

Keweenaw Ledge Agate-AKA SISU Agate

Visiting the Seaman Mineral Museum is always a treat. Their Fluorescent display is shown.

The Keweenaw Peninsula always amazes us. We have had the most wonderful couple weeks. Business has been robust, with loads of lovely ladies sporting our jewelry made from local Copper Country rocks. We pulled into our new campsite at Lake Linden last night, and while I was talking to the campground

The Pink Petoskey Stone and the Favosite I donated to the Seaman Mineral Museum.

host, I told her I sold my jewelry at Copper World. She said “Are you the guy that makes that amazing wire wrapped jewelry”. I admitted that I am and she told me that someone was in the campground who had a new Lake Superior Agate necklace she had bought at Copper World. It is so nice to get complements like “I could not believe that was wire wrapped jewelry, it was so perfect.” How nice is that? Coffee and a complement first thing in the morning–a great way to start the day.

Bon nie chats with some customers at the Eagle Harbot Art Fair.

Bonnie chats with some customers checking out some earrings in a mirror at the Eagle Harbot Art Fair.

I expect since it is a perfect day, I’m just going to relax and make some jewelry in my lawn chair.

This last week we started digging a hole in some hard rock ledges south of Copper Harbor, and we struck the mother lode of Ledge Agates like I have seldom been seen. This is a special type of Lake Superior Agate not as well known as the traditional fortification (or banded) agate. I was finding this agate in seams rather than in nodules, or single rocks.

Here I am "slamming" agates out of a ledge. I call these SISU Agates, because they are so hard to get.

The normal Ledge Agate is a dull brown or pink/white, non-banded, drab agate, but some of these are bright red, some with white Quartz. I have been literally working my meals off in this hole. I have a special “slammer” tool my buddy Chris made for me. I cannot imagine how much harder these would be with a chisel and hammer. I did dig this hole: bend and twist, sweat and ache. I saw color and from a deathlike state I come back to life and kept beating at the rock. The local Finns have a word for going above and beyond your ordinary: SISU. I am definitely in SISU working on this hole-struggling above and beyond. I hereby dub these SISU Agates!

Agates in the hole.

I guess I am in the Agate Greed mode right now, so we will go get more the next couple days.

A whole bucket of SISU Agates.

Finally the Monks at the Jam Pot had a full supply of their famous Muffins and other goodies.

Tucson Gem Show-The BIG Show-Featuring Flourite

back-of-conctr

Inside the TCC before the show opened.

The 59^th Annual Tucson Gem and Mineral Show opened at the Tucson Convention Center today. There was so much of this year’s featured mineral I literally got tired of looking at it. flor1 flor2uk flor3 flor4 flor5 flor6 flor7 flor8 flor9 flor10 flor11 There are big Fluorite fans out there, and although I like it, I find agates a bit more to my liking. Some of the best Fluorite specimens from around the world were on display; China, England, Switzerland, Illinois (of course), and several other locations. I’m only going to show you a few of the over 100 pictures I took, but the rock club will be amazed at the April meeting.

I found one dealer at the show that had some exceedingly rare Wingate Agate Slabs, from Wingate Pass near Death Valley. Years ago, this California material was hunted on what is now Edwards AFB. So it really would be a dead end if you attempted to hunt on the China Lake bombing range. Not many people were recognizing the stuff, but I think it is arguably some of the finest plume agate ever found.

It pays to be one of the first to a trough of slabs. Not only Wingate, but a dino bone slab with a fortification agate in it; and RED for Valentine’s day.

In years past it has been the tradition of the

smithsonianjewel Smithsonian Institution to loan a piece of value to this show. You can tell you are approaching because you will see the police officer there guarding it. In the case was a necklace of 374 diamonds and 15 Columbian emeralds, The necklace was purchased by Harry Winston in 1948 from the Maharaja of Indore and became a part of Winston’s “Court of Jewels” traveling exhibition. In 1955 the necklace changed ownership and was later bequeathed to the Smithsonian Institution.

silverdog

Besides Fluorite there were other minerals displayed. Bonnie’s favorite was the huge chunk of silver dubbed the Silver Dog. We saw beautiful gold specimens, some fantastic gemstones including blue-capped tourmaline, and several dealers brought out their premium specimens for purchase and viewing. My favorite was a giant fish skeleton puppet of a normally 5 inch fish expanded to eight foot, with a fellow walking around inside. Look at the picture and imagine a guy inside it.

Foot carving.

Turquoise from Canana Mine in Mexico.

Dolphin carving

Fish Puppet-Normally a 6" Cockerellites liops. This bog one was named "Spike"

Wingate.

D-Bone

When the “Big Show” opens, we know this year’s show is drawing to a close. This will be my last blog until I get home and unpack all the boxes I’ve sent home. I’ll take a picture of the pile and show you the highlights.

I appreciate all the nice feedback, so I know you have been enjoying my stories.

See you back in the cold and snow. YUK.

Tucson Gem, Mineral, & Fossil Shows-Crystals & Crashes

Winter in am then sunny & 55

Frost in Tucson!

The skyline of Tucson enhanced by Petrified Wood-very cool.

I can see owning this nice coffee table.

A spectacular Quartz pocket-Ron Coleman specimen $600k

End detail of Coleman Specimen.

9K for this one.

10K for this one.

There was heavy frost this morning in Tucson folks. This caused major headaches, as the normal Tucson resident has little experience with icy roads like us northerners. The lighted sign on the freeway said “Winter Driving Conditions”. We waited for the sun to melt the roads, and the wrecks to clear. We then dropped in at the JG&M (Jewelry, Gem & Mineral) Show. We like this show housed in a medium sized hard-sided tent on Simpson Street. There was not a crowd and I chatted with several dealers to pick up rock trivia I use both to make your blog-reading experience more rewarding!

One of my favorite movies is Finding Nemo. I saw a fossil relative of the absent-minded Dory and I got a “gneiss” laugh. Sometimes I might act just like Dory. Don:”Hey Bonnie what is this rock??” Bonnie: “That’s Quartz you dummy”. Don: “I KNEW that.”.

This is actually a Gyrodus Frontatus fossil from Germany.

I took some photos at the JG&M Show. There were some great fossils, specimens, and cabochons, but we were quite thrifty today.

The rock hunt was called early today. We may or may not go out tomorrow. The Main Event, the big show starts Thursday featuring Flourite.

Tucson Gem, Mineral, & Fossil Shows-Bear Traps & Beads

Cold 50, cloudy, and rain Yuk!

Here’s a hint for you. If you need good parking at the Tucson Rock shows, try going on a weekday that is cold and rainy. No problem with parking at Electric Park today.

This, by far, was the neatest stack of Tiger Eye we have ever seen. (Electric Park)

We started at a small show at the Grant Inn. There were few dealers there, but Bonnie had seen an ad for Arizona stones and beads, particularly peppermint jasper. (She does keep coming back to pink). He also had some somewhat rare Lightning Quartz beads that when rubbed together create an effect called triboluminescence. We saw him demonstrate the effect when two pieces of this quartz were rubbed together it produces a light eminating from the stone. These stones have a long history of use by medicine men, and are involved with rainmaking.

Triboluminescence: The property that some materials become luminous upon being scratched, crushed, or rubbed. Examples of substances exhibiting triboluminescence include the minerals fluorite (CaF₂), sphalerite (ZnS), and wintergreen LifeSavers! There are two types of triboluminescence. The first type results from the storage of electrons which have been ejected by the penetrating gamma radiation of ⁴⁰K decay in lattice defects. A small mechanical shock is then sufficient for these electrons to overcome their energy barrier and cascade down to ground state. The second type is observed most frequently in sugars (including wintergreen Life Savers), and results from the breaking of certain bonds. This breakage creates free bonds, which immediately absorbs and ionize nitrogen from the atmosphere, producing a characteristic green or blue-green flash. Maple syrup sucrose produces an especially strong effect. (From Wolfram Research)

We witnessed it in a darkened room and it was like lightning in a stone. The closest thing you may be able to relate it to is the effect we sometimes get when grinding a Quartz, or agate on a diamond wheel. I guess just go buy some Wintergreen Lifesavers and be amazed.. This is the wacky sort of trivia I like.

We visited other dealers including Daniel Lopacki that has been our source for saw blades for many years, but had never met him. He is also a great fan of Victoria Stone, and I enjoyed seeing his personal cabochon collection that was very colorful and reminded us how beautiful this stone is for handcrafted jewelry.

Weirdness-traps & beads (and rugs)

Rhodocrosite. Bonnie likes pink!

We were driven inside and saw a Mountain of beads at one dealer.

: You know I like unusual jewelry. Here is something really cool: a piece of a Mastadon tooth from S. Carolina. I promised the dealer I would make a pendant from it, and so I shall.

We returned to Electric Park with darkening skies and shortly after we visited with Mary and Hubert Collins from our rock club, it did start to rain and we had to go inside to tour around again. We found some really nice large drilled amethyst focal beads that we hadn’t seen previously. Also, I went back to the Diamond Pacific tent again and ordered a new set of wheels for my Xpert that I purchased last year.

We left Electric Park and went to the International Wildlife Museum which kept us out of the rain and reduced spending to only our admission fee.

Tucson Gem, Mineral, & Fossil Shows-Stripping for Skulls

Sunny 55

"A" Mountain, Sentenil Peak dominates Tucson. The "A" is for University of Arizona

Rutilated Quartz

I covered the Freeway Strip today from one end to the other looking for odd stuff. I went out by myself early, and was at the shows when they opened. It was cold enough the car was frosted, but the sun came out and it seemed warmer than the 55 degrees it registered later in the day. It was cool in the shade.

Gems looking good in the sun.

Chrysoprase

A Rockhound with a Rockhound

Quartz in the morning.

Rainbow Obsidian

Specular Hematite and Iron Ore was $3 a pound, but the dealer would sell it for $2 if you took a 1000#

I started at the Clarion Inn and worked my way north to the Howard Johnson, then all the way north until I got to the Days Inn, this incorporates 5 shows. Some of the vendors were on their last day. This means sellers were motivated to sell (bargains+). Later I drove further north to the Ramada Limited for the Arizona Mineral and Fossil Show. The Clarion Gem and Mineral Show has a wide variety of merchandise and in the rear is a large open space and tent where El Paso Rock Shop has the largest selection of rough rock in Tucson—by the barrel or by the piece. You can find almost any type and quantity there, making it a great place to dig around. I couldn’t help but choose several several of the Royal Imperial Jasper cabs that I have seen at the shows. This stone makes beautiful quality jewelry. I looked through the piles and barrels of rock and discovered a few fifty-gallon drums of crap! Coprolite you might call it.

The finest Quartz skull in Tucson.

It is always interesting to see the skulls at Skulls4U. Ivo Fuykschot from the Netherlands represents Leandro deSouza, a famous stone carver from Brazil. I saw the largest carved quartz skull in Tucson, around 315 pounds of clear smoky and yellow quartz available from Skuls4U for $150,000. It is the practice of Skulls4U to name their major skulls. This one is named Akator. He had numerous other large and small skulls, but none in the class of Akator. Ivo was a real nice guy, so if you have some spare change, this would be a good place to spend it.

TRILOBITES

the "blimp" of Tantric Shiva Linghams.

I briefly looked over what was left over at the other shows and bought some really nice tourmaline-in-quartz and lapidolite from a Brazilian dealer. At the Arizona Mineral and Fossil Show I found a dealer on his last day who had Teepee Canyon and Dryhead Agate. I bought a nice selection from Tom Wooden of Fairburn Agates from Rapid City, SD, and he had hunted all the Teepee Canyon material himself. He told me that mechanized digging that they employed years ago is no longer allowed in this area. It is much more unusual to find these agates by only using surface collecting. Tom had a beautiful collection of Fairburn Agates at the Celebration of Agates display last summer.

I found some other small surprises that I intend to make jewelry out of, and I will show them to you later. Bonnie showed up later and we looked at the Tantric Shiva Linghams in the back tents. The grand daddy black one was 8’3″ and reminded me of the Goodyear Blimp, grounded! It is my Odd Stuff of the Day winner.

Tucson Gem, Mineral & Fossil Shows-Arizona Mineral and Fossil Show

Sunny 75

The Arizona Mineral & Fossil show at the Tucson Hotel-City Center has long been one of our favorites. We noticed that it is approaching 300 vendors. Like all the other Hotel shows sales take place out of individual hotel rooms, in ballrooms, or lobbies. There are also dealers in tents and other buildings outside.

This show has always been great for bargain hunters as well as those looking for high-end specimens, fossils, dinosaurs, and Meteorites. The Hotel has three buildings, each one two stories. You can roam the balcony or the sidewalk and drop in on any room you want to look at. We see rough, slabs, finished jewelry, specimens, and fossils. Fossil fish can be your wall art, or a sculpture, and dinosaur bone can be had for pendants, or to decorate with.

This large gem grade black & Red Kentucky Agate was priced out at $4000. I never saw a 10" Kentucky, in these coveted colors, that was so nice.

This large gem grade black & Red Kentucky Agate was priced out at $4000. I never saw a 10" Kentucky, in these coveted colors. So nice!

Very nice picnic tables.

I know at least one person that would like to own this.

Awesome Smithsonite surounded by druzy-encrusted Quartz Crystals

Flowers and Rocks

Run, Bonnie, Run!

A fossil fish mobile.

Ammonite

The only way you can control these varments

The only way you can control these varmints, keep 'em in their packaging!

dinofam1

Bumblebee Jasper Skulls

scaryteeth treedino

An orange drops off a tree and they're on it.

Megalodon Mouth

Crinoid wall from Morocco

My Meteorite slab. Sorry about the reflections. This slab was mirror polished.

I mentioned earlier today on my Facebook page that my goal was to find something special to make jewelry from. That treasure appeared as a slice of a Pallasite Meteorite from Seymchan (Iron II E), Russia (found in 1967). Pallasites are wonderful meterorites containing Olivine, and the slab I found (later went back and got another slab), was chuck full of greenish-yellow gemstones. I am making myself a pendant and I have extra when someone else begs for one.

The market must be good for fiberglass dinosaurs, because they really multiplied from last year, so I’ve scattered a few photos in this blog. They can be bought for $2000 and up; way up!

The hotel is wonderfully landscaped with trees loaded with oranges. I even saw one baby dino trying to eat one that had fallen from the tree. Bonnie found some outstanding Lapis drilled pendent stones, and I found a great “Rock Star” T-shirt that pretty much describes me.

It was just a wonderful beautiful laid back day in Tucson.

Tucson Gem, Mineral, & Fossil Shows-AGTA and GJX

Sunny 75

Looking in Someone’s Junk Box Can be rewarding. Don Reed

So you get a feel for the layout downtown I took this photo from "A" Mountain. I-10 runs thru the center, On the closest side of I-10 are the shows in the hotels on the strip. Across the freeway over on the left side is the GJX Tent, and diectly across from the tent is the Tucson Convention Center. The annual Gem Shows bring in more money to Tucson than any other activity during the year.

So you get a feel for the layout downtown I took this photo from "A" Mountain. I-10 runs thru the center of the picture. On the closest side of I-10 are the shows in the hotels on the strip. Across the freeway over on the left side is the GJX Tent, and directly across from the tent is the Tucson Convention Center. The annual Gem Shows bring in more money to Tucson than any other activity during the year.

Entrance to the AGTA Show.

We attended the most upscale show Tucson has to offer today. The American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) has their annual show at the Tucson Convention Center in downtown. Also the Gem & Jewelry Exchange (JGX) has their big show in a huge hard-sided tent right across the street. Some cooperation occurs between the shows in that AGTA credentials also gets you into the JGX Show when you show your ID again. Both shows are wholesale only and require business credentials, tax licenses, and identification.

About a third of the booths at AGTA prior to opening.

A typical booth at AGTA. Great lighting enhancing many gemstones.

The AGTA show is primarily cut gemstone sales with dealers from around the world. There are booth after booth loaded with millions of gemstones in each booth. To me, every booth looks the same with salesgirls stylishly adorned, and salesmen dressed in suits. Many of these booths are Asian in nature, as most gemstones are found and cut in these countries. India was well represented, as was Thailand, China, and Australia with their opals. Security is very tight at this show. Pictures are not allowed on the show floor, but from up top I’ve not had anyone say anything.

Stone found in a "junkpile".

Other "Junkpile" stones included Queensland Agate, Montana Moss, and Citrine.

As is my nature, about half way thru this show I become bored seeing the same common rubies, sapphires, emeralds, opals, pearls, and such, in every booth. This is a show where jewelry stores and Home Shopping Networks on TV make their deals. Really big deals are made in hotel rooms, but I’ve seen some of the TV Jewelry networks making deals in the large food area. The Jewelry network buyers and some others wear VIP Buyer Credentials and are treated by the dealers as such. A sale to one of these people can truly “make” a show for a dealer.

Bi-colored Quartz.

Watermelon Tourmaline. WOW,

As I was saying before I got off track. I’m walking along just casually looking at all the same things, and I notice a couple trays of cabochons in the very bottom of a case on a little side aisle. Before I tell you what I saw, I should tell you that I asked the friendly lady if I could look at these bottom trays. “Oh, you want to see my junk trays?” I said “Yep, I want to see the junk trays.” So she hauled out three little trays from the bottom of the case.

The tray I saw at my first glance contained a wonderful LARGE THOMSONITE, obviously from the Lake Superior North Shore. I asked what she wanted for it and she said, “I don’t know what (stone) that is, but it’s half off whatever it’s marked.” My wife does not wish me to tell you what I paid for this treasure, and you would not believe me anyway. Here in Tucson in the middle of all those traditional gems it looked out of place, but our specialty at Snob Appeal Jewelry is stone pendants from the Great Lakes area, including beautiful Thomsonites. I can’t wait to get it home and do it up right! I picked out several more cabs, moss agates, Queensland agate, and citrine, from this ladies “junk”pile–wonderful stuff!

I was very thrilled with this find. What was this Thomsonite doing there mixed in with all those common gemstones?Luckily, no one else spotted it or cared about it, even with thousands just walking by… amazing.

I priced out some Watermelon Tourmaline: Wow! The prices were over the top, even wholesale. I finally bought a little piece, even though it hurt my wallet. Bonnie said she would wear it until I sold it. It is a very nice piece.

We found a dealer we buy from each year for small faceted gemstones I use to enhance my pendants. As usual, we had fun selecting from his bargain pile.

I also found some bi-color Quartz of Lemon Quartz and Smoky Quartz. This stuff makes amazing wire-wrapped jewelry.

It was a very good day to be at the shows. The Tucson experience should be on every rock enthusiasts bucket list. Watch tomorrow for a report from the Fossil Show; one of our favorites.