Approximately 10# of natural Blue Topaz (loc.Minas Gerais)
A small number of shows in Tucson open early, sometimes referred to as the super-start. These include the JOGS Gem and Jewelry Show, the 22nd Street Show and the Hotel Tucson City Center. We attended the JOGS Gem and Jewelry Show today which is wholesale/ retail which requires credentials showing your status as a buyer. The JOGS show is located at the Tucson Expo Center, an easy location to get to. We skipped the initial rush, and the lines to register were not bad.
At African Arts I saw great Shattuckite, Malachite and Azurite.
Tiger Iron
We have favorite vendors there. One is Sunwest Silver, the home of more turquoise than you can imagine. Morenci Turquoise and turquoise prices in general are always surprising. They had buckets of Campicos, Kingman, Kingston, Pilot Mountain, and Sleeping Beauty. They always have the biggest turquoise jewelry displays and a show-stopping gem. A natural blue topaz (around 10 pounds) could be had for somewhere around $20000. He also had some great opals, but the picture doesn’t show their true glory. They were stunning. (I always ask the vendors if it is OK to take my pictures).
I also enjoyed seeing Cripple Creek turquoise at Burtis Blue Turquoise of Cripple Creek, Co. He had some great tiger iron slabs as well. The booths are really packed together and it is easy to get turned around.
Excellent assortment of Meteorites.
Fine Opals
Searching the Druzy (Drusy) piles
Here’s something I’ll see every day in Tucson. Bonnie searching the bead piles.
John Higgins of Outer Space Rocks, from Santa Fe had nice assortment of shapes, sizes, and types of meteorites. His comment was that he wished he was in Michigan hunting the recent meteor fall.
We talked with some other shoppers from Ottawa, California, even back home from Leland, Michigan, close to our home in northwest Michigan. Check in tomorrow and see our further adventures at the Tucson Shows.