45-50 Sunny (The natives wearing Winter Parkas, me OK in a sweatshirt.
Shiva Lingams’ outside front entrance
Waiting by one of the orange trees for one to drop off (or ready to leap for one)
The day was spent roaming and exploring The Arizona Mineral and Fossil Show at the Hotel Tucson City Center.
Another little Bastard wiring by the pool. I suspect it is easier to eat people without so many clothes on, or not wearing Parkas.
The rooms are filled with vendors, as is the upper lobby and Ballroom. I love this show for its wide selection and variety of things. I got there early so I could get parking. You can park elsewhere and ride a shuttle if you can’t arrive until later in the day.
Before you enter the hotel, you can view Shiva Lingam from India, which are considered to increase fertility. The big ones are in the five foot range. Most of these are worked into perfect melon shapes using lapidary methods.
Upper lobby area dealer rooms
Many rooms feature meteorites, mineral specimens, jewels, slabs, cabs, and mine finds from around the world. The ballroom always features fine fossils and beautiful ammonites abound. The hotel rooms both upper and lower levels are filled with more rocks, minerals, fossils brought and sold by foreign dealers. United States miners, and collectors are also in abundance. I saw the Dorris family from the Weather Channel’s Prospectors show, selling Colorado treasures in two rooms, and the Meteorite Men were selling their finds in another room.
Horrendous carnage in the courtyard.
Ken Flood-Keweenaw Gems & Gifts
This show is fun because of the fiberglass dinosaurs scattered around the grounds. I saw a raptor waiting for an orange to fall, baby dinosaurs, and a horrendous fight where two raptors were ripping pieces of meat out of a large beast. Very gory. A couple reproduction t-rex heads were lying in the courtyard as well as a raptor waiting for fresh meat to emerge from the swimming pool.
By exploring other dealers in a couple larger tents in the rear of the hotel, I saw a beautiful display of back-lit onyx and agate. I chatted with Ken Flood, a friend who sells Keweenaw materials, speciallizing in copper items. He said he was having a good show.
This one was sold
This was like a coffin for the person that has everything
This one $500,000
Inside the giant Geode
Even further behind the hotel I discovered Aurora Minerals in a more permanent building (called the Granada Avenue Mineral Show) featuring shockingly large amethyst cathedrals. One was sixteen feet long (that’s a stretch Limo!), possibly the largest ever found in Uruguay. I’ve never seen the likes of this. The pictures of this give you an idea of how nice it is–the cathedral was filled with gem grade amethyst. It had a long journey by train, ship, and truck. It can be yours for $500,000, if you are inclined. If I’d won that Lotto, I could have had a petrified wood table, a triceratops, AND a prize amethyst cathedral. I might even let my Facebook friends in to see them for free.
These Ammonites are always the most colorful things at the show
Backlit agate and onyx
I guess that giant Amethyst being sold by Aurora Minerals was really todays highlight. It ofter pays to have a look out back in these shows. A couple years ago I found A T-Rex loitering way out back in this same show.