Tucson Gem & Mineral Show=Rock & Mineral Overload

The Tucson Gem and Mineral show kicked off Thursday morning and we were one of the first ones in the door. Hosted by the Tucson Gem and Mineral Society, it is the oldest and most prestigious rock show. The show fills the Tucson Convention Center with 250 retail vendors. The theme is Mineral Treasures of the Midwest. Since we live in the Midwest, we were anticipating the displays from our area.

When we first got to the convention center a wooly mammoth and her calf were on display in the lobby. Not the usual skeleton, but a fur-covered mammoth. Also a wooly rhino welcomed us. They looked very real and are certainly an eye-catching welcome to the show!

Eager visitors lined up ½ hour before the show started. We were surprised to see a friend of ours from Maryland. People come from everywhere to attend this show.

The displays at this show are from museums, universities, and private collectors. It is delightful to see how each interpreted the theme of the show.

The Seaman Mineral Museum, Michigan’s official state mineral museum, had a large display featuring copper, iron, calcite and other Michigan stuff. Nearby were two impressive displays by Donald K Olson. He was closing up one of the cases and we began to discuss the Centennial Datolite in his case, because Bonnie was wearing jewelry of the same. He had some of the most unusual copper crystal formations. We talked for a while and he also proudly showed us another case he brought, of red quartz crystals from the iron range of Minnesota.

I took lots of pictures of the cases. Some of the museums had sent some of their favorite pieces, even if they had nothing to do with the Midwest. There was the Northwest, and the Midwest Arizona, and so forth. Collector’s Edge had beryl, tourmaline, gold crystals, Rhodochrosite from the Sweet Home Mine, and every mineral specimen that you can imagine.

The local University of Arizona had beautiful malachite, chrysocolla, turquoise, copper, many fine specimens from their collections.

Malachite from the Copper Queen Mine, meteorites from many locations, Dioptase, Rhodochrosite, Calcite crystals were represented.

A dinosaur named Baby Bob was the center of attention in the second room.

Frederick C Wilda had a nice display of minerals paired with jewelry made from the minerals, and enhanced by a display setting of fine art paintings.

Three pieces earned the police guard this year. One of the finest specimens ever is the Alma Rose from the Sweet Home Mine in Colorado. Next to it the Smithsonian Institution supplied the Tiffany Amethyst Necklace. A 56 carat Siberian Amethyst most likely produced by George Kunz who was the chief gemologist at Tiffanys at the time. Lines, leaves and berries surround the deep red/purple amethyst. A wonderful example of Art Nouveau made at the turn of the century.

The other piece from the Smithsonian Institution was a Tiffany Opal Necklace designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany featuring black opals with brilliant green demantoid garnets. The black opals are from Lightning Ridge and the rare Demantoid garnets are from Russia. Made in the early twentieth century this is also an Art Nouveau.

Hallelujah! Crystals were found in 2006 at Peterson Mountain in Nevada.

A replica of the Russian czarinas diamond was there.

We spent a good part of the day looking, photographing, and talking with all the folks there. As always, this is the highlight of the Tucson shows. As we sort through our treasures, we will continue to show you what we have here in our blog. Please visit our jewelry pages to see what we do with our rocks.

Thanks for reading. I appreciate all your nice comments on Facebook. Be sure to like and share!

Sorry I did not label everything, but in most of those if you expand the picture, you can read the tags. I’ve spend several hours sorting through all the pictures I’ve taken at the Main Show. You’re getting only a small taste. How about you come next year?