Sunny 83

Topaz that looks like Watermelon Tourmaline.

Courtyard Rapa River-Stll buyers and vendors.

Chrysocolla Rough

While the girls went shopping, so did I. As you get old it is hard to remember what you forgot. Let me explain. All this show week I could not remember where I acquired facetted Topaz that looks like Watermelon Tourmaline. Bonnie and I combined our brains and believed I got it at the GJX show last year. Since this show was still open until tomorrow I dropped in and found the dealer. He remembered me from last year and fortunately he had the material I was looking for. A great negotiation provided three wonderful facetted stones. He said that this material is quite scarce and will probably not be available next year.

Sugalite & Larimar

Some had glued little miners, tracks, trains and other things to the inside of a large Amethyst geode.

I left the GJX and made one last sweep of the shows on the northern strip. Searching the crevices of the Days Inn-Globe-x show, the Rapa River Show, and the Riverpark-Pueblo Gem & Mineral Show produced some fine photos. My buying was very limited as is my remaining cash. Limited amounts were dispersed for a few cabs. I was educated on Morenci & Bisbee Turquoise as I have some, what I believe is Bisbee at home; but may be Morenci. This knowledgeable dealer told me that they were both demanding the same price right now. He offered to buy my stash, but I am keeping it to create turquoise jewelry for my customers.

Leftover Denim Lapis.

Someone is going to have to take all this Tiger Eye back.

I left these shows early, as we northerners just can’t take anything above 80 this time of year. (you’re not buying that are you?)

Is this for real?

The last thing I saw was a really big Trilobite that had a sign on it “DO NOT TOUCH)” and was being guarded by a Moroccan. I believe that at least some of this trilobite, (namely the spikes), were manufactured. Sometimes you can’t be sure with these guys what is real and what is reproduced. Anyway, he wanted $2000 for the unit if you are interested.

Rainbow Obsidian in the sum.

I can only describe these as "Stick Birds".

I will be very distraut not being able to go look at rocks every day, and may have to get some medication for rock show withdrawl. I really appreciate all you guys following along on our adventures, and all the great comments. We’ll do it again next year. Keep reading the blog and see what I do with all the new stuff we obtained here.

Sunny 79

Arizona Minerals-an artsy picture for you.

Tupac-one of the back streets.

One of the many artsy things we saw in Tupac.

We skipped the show today and drove south to Tupac, a artsy community full of high-end shops. The Tupac art show is underway we decided to beat the weekend crowd and go today.

Were we in for a surprise when we got there and found hundreds and hundreds of cars in all the lots, which were actually dusty fields! We were there so we paid our $6 for parking and checked the town out.

This was a show with perhaps $100-150 vendors. We actually saw one of the vendors we know from Wisconsin that does nice wire-wrapped jewelry of a different style than I do.

There were large crowds and I actually saw a dozen tour buses. Apparently this is a destination for many people. All the show was high quality. We really enjoyed what everyone was creating in the art world.

Today I will post a couple pictures from Tupac, and some more from the Gem & Mineral Show.

Probably the finest piece of Chrysocolla in Quartz I've ever seen. Miami-Globe Mine Az.

These were really amazing wood turnings inlayed withAzurite, Malachite, Chrysocolla and Arizona Turquoise

Crinoids from Montgomery County, Indiana

Vanadinite from Arizona belongs to the Apatite group of minerals.

Myrickite Agate/Opal Cinnabar-a rare rock from Napa Valley, California.

A great set of Dinosaur eggs! Maybe I should not have put it quite that way.

12-9 Sunny 73

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer opens the show.

The Tucson Gem & Mineral Show (The Big Show) sponsored by the Tucson Gem & Mineral Society opened this morning, and we were right up at the front of the line. I expected wonderful displays of the Minerals of Arizona, which was the theme this year. We were not disappointed with the quality or quantity of the exhibits.

Gov. Jan Brewer opened the show and I happened to be right next to all the news cameras for a close-up view of everything. After the opening festivities Bonnie and I took in the whole show.

Hooker Emerald from the Smithsonian

Arizona Meteorites

I cannot begin to describe the wonderful displays we saw. We spent a few dollars on some nice cabochons, and I bought some nice slabs, including some Wingate Plume agate from Death Valley, California. It has great oranges and reds on a black background. The stuff was not cheap, but it drew me right in. I can make some great jewelry out of it.

Wingate Agate from Death Valley

Bonnie bought some great drilled cabs to make necklaces from, but mostly we looked at displays and people. Today I will just show you a small sample of what we saw today.

Geronimo Rifle & Wyatt Earp Revolver

As I have mentioned in previous years, if a Tucson cop is sitting by a case, it is probably quite valuable. Today he was sitting next to a case containing Geronimo’s 1868 Springfield Rifle and Wyatt Earp’s Model P Colt Revolver. Bonnie thought he was there because of the huge royal blue Tanzanite.

A remarkable gem pendant on display was the Hooker Emerald from the Smithsonian museum. The Hooker Emerald is a superb 75.47ct Columbian Emerald dating back to the Ottoman Empire (1876-1909). It is surrounded by 109 round brilliant and 20 baguette cut diamonds totaling 13 carats. Mrs. Janet Annenberg purchased the emerald brooch from Tiffany in 1955, and in 1977 donated it to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

I will post a small portion of the approximately 100 pictures I took today; ENJOY!

Turquoise-colored petrified wood from Washington

Amazing Opal Turtles

Wonderful Obsidian Hearts

Some great Arizona Mineral Cabochons.

This is Mexican Turquoise from the Canana Mine. Owned by Elisabeth's Cottage By The Sea.

Azurite

Malachite from Bisbee

Arizona gold

Quartz Crystal containing Actinolite & Rutile stars

Sunny 74

Some Moroccan must have had a load of spare time here. Otodus teeth (50 million year old mackerel shark)

Each of these trilobites was as big as a hand! Hotel Tucson City Center

Laguna Agates and Tiffany Stone display.HTCC

Hunting the deep recesses of the Tucson Gem, Mineral, & Fossil Shows is one of our favorite things to do. Today was the last day of the JOGS Show and sometimes the dealers are motivated to sell rather than take merchandise home.

This show, as you may recall, is a wholesale show with an eclectic variety of merchandise from imported buy/sell jewelry, to rough rock, to facetted jewels. If you can imagine it, it is probably at JOGS.

I found a great deal on some facetted Citrine and the same dealer made me an offer I could not refuse on some very nice blue and pink sapphires. I found a Russian guy with some nice Eudialite cabochons different than I had ever seen. These had a dark background with the reds standing out. When I think of Eudalite, I think of bright red ruby slippers shining in the sun. I love this stuff! One pricey opal Bluegill somehow also found its way into the satchel, while Bonnie was not looking.

Dino Bones in the Black Hills Institute Display. HTCC

Now THIS would be a rough volleyball team!

If you are not SURE they are dead, they will rise back up!

They FINALLY captured that evil raptor that was checking out Bonnie the other day (see blog).

Would you expect to see this at a fossil show?

From Austrailia a large slab of Obicular Granite. You just can't take a piece like this for granite! (OK so it was a bad pun) I know a granite lover that reads this blog. This one is for him.

Hey Deb, how about a new wine rack?

Some great polished wood.

Has this old guy with one bad leg really got a chance?

Bonnie bought a few silver charms and enough pewter beads and findings to anchor a small boat! She waited until we were walking out the door to buy them.

I really wasn’t keeping a close eye on her, but she is usually more conservative in her spending than I am. She admits to buying some very fine Turquoise beads from a very reputable dealer.

When we left JOGS it was still early and we decided to skip over to the Hotel Tucson to the Mineral and Fossil Show. We saw Ken Flood from Keweenaw Gem & Gift in Houghton at his booth. He said he had a very good show, and this was evident by his low inventory. Shortly thereafter we saw Bob & Pam Hecht, also from Houghton. Pam saw me first as I was wearing my Keweenaw T-Shirt. You just never know who you will run into so far from our homes! They too were enjoying 75 degrees!

The Hotel Tucson City Center is famous for all the orange trees on the property, and we from up north really appreciate the green trees loaded with orange orbs. The lower branches of these trees usually are barren of oranges (I wonder why?).

A good herd of the ever-popular Fiberglass dinosaurs were scattered about the grounds, even occupying the volleyball court. A great white shark was ready to attack swimmers in the pool.

I did take loads of pictures of fossils for you and I found some very nice Larimar rough I could not pass up, although I could not afford much of it. So let’s just throw some nice pictures, and a little humor, at you so you can get a feel of this place.

We went back to home base early today, which most likely saved us some money. I have no idea where tomorrow may lead us. I’m sure there is a show somewhere we have not seen.

Sunny 73

Vendors open before the crowds show up-Howard Johnsons

We found ourselves at the Clarion Gem & Mineral Show this morning. Searching the nooks and crannies of this and other gem shows on “the strip” is often quite rewarding. The weekend crowds were gone and we had no problems navigating this show.

This gold ore looked outstanding-I hope it makes great jewelry.

I stumbled onto the only gold ore at the shows. This ore was from a newer claim in Beaver, Utah. Right now their ore is being sold as specimen pieces and these miners hope to be able to get crushing equipment among other expensive things in order to start making ingots. I thought, by my eye, that this ore was loaded with gold. It’ll be fun to cut and make cabs.

I found some wonderful Opalite cabs, that looked like moonstones, from India. Somehow a couple Sonoran Sunrise cabs appeared in my bag… BONNIE! I have seen some amazing neon blue opal from Cooper Peeby, but never one like I saw today. It is neon blue with green flashy undertones. It was one of those stones I had to have, and it will be one of the first cabs I wrap when I get home. You’ll have to wait until it is sone as I could not even begin to get a good photo of it.

This ammolite insetted into dinosaur bone looks 100% better in person.

The most spectacular items I acquired today were cabochons of Ammolite inset in Dinosaur bone. I wish I were at home to take a photo on my studio setup, but I am hopeful I can take a photo that at least hints at the beauty of these things. Perhaps I overspent on them, but then again perhaps not. They were completely unique.

Smokey Quartz cluster from Brazil looked spectacular in the sun.

We stopped at the Howard Johnson Gem and Mineral Show and Bonnie got some items.

I saw her buying some treated turquoise I would never have bought, but then she does keep me company, and she thought they were pretty. We chatted with interesting people, and my final purchase was a small chunk of rhodochrosite with pyrite from China. Bonnie is a big fan of rhodo, so she’ll be after me to cut when we get home too.

At 13' 4" this giant carnivorous Xiphatinus Audax (85 Million year old) is a steal at $165,000! Fron Lane County, Kansas

I hit the 22nd Street Show again just to get some nice photos for you guys including a Giant Carnivorous fish, and a photo for my buddy Chris.

Morrocan Crock.

Mastadon at Clarion.

I did not ask the price on this piece of Nantan Meteorite that fell in China in May of 1516.

The girls are going to exercise this evening, so I might have to go to one of my favorite spots while they are gone. Stay tuned for the next exciting adventure!

Sunny 75 & Breezy

The giant rock garden at TEP.

Rock Art at TEP.

Since I never finished my search at the Electric Park Show, we returned there to see if there was anything I never knew I needed. A search around The Rock Show (RV Show) produced a couple cabs as well as a piece of Carnelian from Madigascar like I have never seen before. It was an orange color with sort of a alligator-skinned pattern. I could see some good jewelry in that rock.

The unusual Carnilian from Madigascar.

There is a big hard-sided tent at the Electric Park Show that is always worth checking out, if only to see the jewelry tools at Kent’s Tools. We zipped through the rest of the displays and I took a photo of some imported jewelry similar to what you might see at all the shows.

Drifting around the TEP always produces some unusual viewings. We saw a giant garnet infused rock, some dragon carvings, got a closer view of big rocks, including one artsy one next to an ore cart I likes. There were quite a few fiberglass dinosaurs in the area ($10,000 & up). One sneaky raptor was caught checking out Bonnie! Other things we saw included a large crinoid infused rock slab and some nice rock carvings.

I decided to clear out of the TEP and head over to Arizona Mineral & Fossil Show, but on the way saw another Fossil Show at the with the same name at a Quality Inn. This must have been the overflow vendor area for the show we were headed to at the Hotel Tucson City Center. There were vendors waiting for customers, but more vendors then customers.

Quality Inn Fossil Show-looks like the west doesn't it?

This Raptor was checking out Bonnie.

The size of these garnets were amazing.

Fossil Show petrified wood table

Amethyst at the Fossil Show.

Amazing violet amethyst-fossil show.

Dragon carvings TEP.

This Quality Inn show seemed to have an abundance of Russian Vendors selling their wares. One Russian had some jade, best described as looking like sunstone. It was just amazing stuff that I probably cannot photograph and do justice to. Bonnie fell in love with a shiny purple Charoite cab that we gobbled up also.

We continued to the AM&F Show at the Hotel Tucson. We love this show as there are lots of great higher-end dealers and much to see. The best buy I made was some Muonionalusta Meteorite slabs at good prices. I love this material as you know if you have followed my blog.

We saw a humungous slab of almost violet amethyst as the obglitory giant amethyst cathedrals as well as a petrified wood table that you had to see to believe.

We knocked off early today to go to a SuperBowl party, but count on us to jump back in tomorrow.

Sunny 67

This morning I went exploring without Bonnie. I blasted into town down the freeway (The speed limit is 75mph here) and made Tucson in short order. Our daughter lives about 19 miles from city center. Anywhere you go here is measured by the time it takes to get there and not usually by the miles. I parked in my favorite lot ($5) and walked north on the west side of I-10 on the frontage road.

There are always giant quartz crystals in front of the Riverpark Inn. How did they get this thing out of the ground?

You'd have to have a whole room to hold this lighted beauty.

There are several shows at the hotels along the freeway, and the gem show attendees call this section “the strip”. I like to walk to the far end show and work my way back to the car. This way my canvas satchel is empty when I start, and possibly filled with rocks when I get back to the parking lot.

These shows have vendors in every room as well as in the courtyards, and in tents set up on the premises. I find these shows have many surprises hidden in the nooks and crannies. I spent about four hours looking and talking to vendors and fellow rock lovers. I wore my “I Dig Rocks” shirt with a little miner wearing a miner’s helmet with his head just peaking out of a hole in the ground. People liked it.

The Globe-X Show at the Days Inn was my first stop. The variety was good, I took a few pictures, and walked to the Rapa River Show. I saw my friend Jeff Anderson selling agates of all sorts. He said the show had been slow, but was hoping for a good day today. I asked him if he had seen any Blue Lace Agate, and he advised he had not.

A common site here.

Apparently Blue Lace is at a premium, especially the old dark blue we used to get. I have a major project that requires Blue Lace cabachons. I just missed being able to buy some at the G&LW show, but someone had come in a bought out the one vendor that had any. I think this was around 600 cabs. OK, NOW I have a goal today; find that Blue Lace.

I discovered a meteorite dealer that had some wonderful Muonionalusta pieces at a fair price. Muonionalusta is, in my opinion, the best patterned of all meteorites, and I love it for jewelry. Still no Blue Lace to be found.

Courtyard at the River Park.

The next show is the Pueblo Gem & Mineral Show at the Riverpark Inn. There are always huge crystals on display, and for sale, in front of the Inn. They are always worth a look and a picture. I saw a few small Blue Lace slabs, but nothing of quality.

At Riverpark-The best carving I saw. I do not know the stone.

I left the area and drove to shows at the Kino Sports Complex (we always called this Electric Park). This show is now called the Rock Show. The RV (Rock) show is interesting as the dealers just park their motor homes and sell their goods on tables outside their individual motor homes. This show is always interesting to me as I can find lots of rough rocks, slabs, and cabs. Guess what? I found some Blue Lace rough (WHOOPEE). One vendor had seven small pieces and I bought all he had. The price was right, and now I can get my project done.

Who would need a 435# crystal skull?

The RV Show at Electric Park.

Electric Park Show.

How was so much non-rock imported junk allowed in this show?

Bonnie met up with me at Electric Park and we drank some real cowboy root beer (sasparilla). The Electric Park Show has many non-rock related things going on as well as an eclectic variety of rough rock, jewels, cabs, jewelry, and a host of other unusual items you would not expect at a rock show. This show along with the RV(Rock) Show covers about 20 acres with over 250 vendors. I just covered the surface of this show, but was able to find a new ring saw at Diamond Pacific I need. I shopped and they will ship.

Bonnie wants this rock for her Quality Thyme Garden Club's garden.

I left both hungry and tired, but a good Tucson Burrito hit the spot.

Until tomorrow-where we will be, who knows.

Sunny 64

Giant G&LW Tent.

We zipped through several different shows today. Let’s sum them up: We went to the G&LW (Gem & Lapidary Wholesalers) show held in a giant hard-sided tent (actually two tents). I call this one “the bead show” because of all the stacks of beads piled everywhere. Generally there is little that attracts me to this show except Bonnie likes beads.

Good buys were made on beads, but again they do not allow photography at this show.
I took a couple photos of the outside so you can get an idea of the massiveness of these tents.

These woodcarvings were just spectacular and prove there is more a a gem show then just rocks.

A shuttle took us over to the Holidome at the Holiday Inn nearby. There were some great carvings at the entrance to the main tent. This show features a lot of buy-sell type goods manufactured in India or China, so again of only minor interest to me. This is another wholesale show and no photography allowed.

Imagine waling into the 22nd Street Show and seeing this!

We had time left, and my legs were still OK, so we decided to hit the 22nd Street Show. They upgraded this year to a new hard sided tent on a paved pad. This was much nicer than the tent on dusty dirt that they had last year. The one thing that stood out was the 80 foot Apatasaurus excelsus from Wyoming in the middle of the show. This dinosaur was obviously a replica as the price was only $175,000 (maybe less if you paid cash).

Apatasaurus-$175,000

There were some great fossil dealers at the show among a wide variety of other things.

As a plus I could take some photos.

Wonderful fossils if you have the money. I think these were reproductions.

We observed a prehistoric crocodile that apparently had a sweet tooth, as he had a mouthful of candy.

Just down the road from the 22nd Street Show is the JG&M (Jewelry, Gem, & Mineral Exposition) show. This show sometimes has some interesting stuff. They did allow photos, and I’m glad they did, because there were some very interesting crystals displays.

Croc with sweet tooth.

close-up of the hungry croc. If you buy the croc the candy is free!

Stopping at the Tucson Showplace we got to see our pal Archy Ammerman from Archy’s Rock Shop in Mason, Michigan. He specializes in Cabochons, but he did have some real nice Stichtite rough from Australia. This rock looks sort of like Ruby and Fuschite, but the spots in it are lavender. I’m eager to cut some for my jewelry.

All in all it was a busy day, with minimal cash outflow, but lots of memories.

We are off soon to our favorite Tucson steakhouse, the Silver Saddle… YUM!

One of the most frightening things I saw today.

How would you like to be attacked by this killer shark?

Crystal globe on a base.

If this is not a Rhodochrosite Gorilla, what is?

The Iris is growing under the Orange tree in our daughter Holly's house.

68 breezy & sunny

AGTA Show

A small portion of the AGTA Sow prior to opening.

Today we went to two of the largest wholesale shows in Tucson. The AGTA (American Gem Trade Association) show runs thru February 4th at the Tucson Convention Center. When this Gem Fair closes then the Convention Center is set up for the Big Show put on by the Tucson Gem & Mineral Society. I’ll visit the “Big Show” next weekend and blog about that.

AGTA is an organization of the professionals in the gem trade business and primarily features gems as you would find at high-end jewelry stores. I cannot even describe the mind numbing experience of viewing pile after pile of facetted gemstones, and hundreds of gemstone dealers from around the world. This show has the best reputation for quality, honesty, and integrity of any show in Tucson. We might have to pay more at this show, but you get the best stuff also. This show is on two floors of the Convention Center and allows no photography at all (This policy is strictly enforced by the many on sight members of the Tucson Police Department protecting the gazillion dollars worth of precious jewels.

Bonnie bought some very high end gemstone beads and I bought a few cabs for myself.

A view from the Tucson Convention Center of the GJX Show tent.

This was a legal picture of a JUMBO Quartz gem in a case at the AGTA Show.

A JUMBO Topaz at AGTA.

The GJX show is just across the street from the Tucson Convention Center held in an 110,000 square foot ultra-structure that is fully carpeted and climate controlled. There are several hundred vendors at the GJX show and it is again a wholesale show. The camera police are again out in force. This show has a little of everything from facetted gemstones to carvings to equipment for gemstone identification. We like the show’s separate little nook for the famous Idar Oberstein lapidary group from Germany. There is also side nooks for the Brazilians and Asian gem trade people.

We picked up a few items and got out of there after walking around for several hours. This tent is massive!

Bumblebee Jasper

I promised yesterday I would tell you about the Bumblebee Jasper from Indonesia. My research indicates that it is totally legit and a real rock from a volcanic region on one of the Indonesian Islands. The unusual yellow coloration is caused by sulfer. I’m eager to make some jewelry out of it.

I have no idea where we will be tomorrow, but be assured you will go with us (adhoc) via our blog.

There seems to be some unusual things that happened on the text in this blog. I’ll figure it out by the next blog.