Report 1   Report 2   Report 3    

Special Requests Available

Return to the Denver 2004 Homepage




 
 
 

September 19-20

I spent 4 days total at the main show working with Steve Perry in his booth.  I know I have said that these shows are a lot of work to put on.  I now have first hand experience at it and my assessment was way off - it is a HELL of a lot of work to put a show on.  I tip my cap to all the dealers who do it again and again during the year.  You folks earn every penny you ask for the specimens you put on display!


A shot on the floor of the Main Show at the Merchandise Mart.

at the main show and really had little time to walk around and see what was new.  I did run into Andy Seibel, however, who had landed a small lot of exceptional crystals of smoky dolomite from Brumado, Bahia, Brazil.  These are gemmy crystals of twinned dolomite with inclusions of what appears to be goethite.  The crystals are typically associated with rhombic magnesite crystals.  One specimen has an interesting composition of a dolomite twin with a magnesite and uvite crystal.  I bought the lot from Andy. 
 
 


Two pictures of the best specimen - a 2.7 cm composition piece with a twin dolomite 
crystal set on a uvite crystal.  There is a magnesite crystal between the two. 
The specimen is sold already in case you were wondering...




Between shifts at the main show I did come across an offer of exceptional Chinese material.  There are some great Chinese mimetites, spessartine, fluorite, scheelite specimens and more in this collection.  Of particular interest to me were the several pseudomorphs of quartz and fluorite after stibnite from near Xin Yi City, Qingnong, Guizhou Province.  The stibnite has been completely replaced by drusy quartz and pastel colored fluorite.   I will be posting many of these over the coming weeks and months. There are well over 150 pieces in all - all choice select specimens. 


This is a 7 cm specimen of quartz and fluorite pseudomorphing stibnite. 


This is a 14 cm specimen of quartz and fluorite pseudomorphing stibnite. 
The best in the lot.




I did find some time away from the booth to view some of the many displays at the main show.  This year I, with Steve Perry's help, put together a display of some of the Bill Birnie copper collection.  Steve came up with the idea of laying out some of the old mid-70's newspapers that many of Bill's specimens were wrapped in.


The display with some of Bill's copper specimens. 

The following are images from the collection of specimens that will be available at the 2005 Tucson Show on mineralshows.com.


 
 
 
 


This is a monstrous 15cm + specimen of fluorite from the Crystal Peak 
area of Pikes Peak.  Who says you can't find good stuff anymore?
 
 
 
 


As usual Keith Proctor had a display that made most of us ask why we even try to collect minerals. 
I found the bluish green cuprian smithsonite from Tsumeb to be extraordinary.  The 35 cm 
Sweet Home Rhodochrosite specimen is enough to make you dizzy. A $1,000,000 case at least!
 
 



Diana Himes pointed out some of the more interesting specimens in this display of Mt. Mica specimens. 
A lot of new material will be available at the Tucson Show from Leonard Himes and Cal Graeber. 

There were not many European dealers here such as Francois Lietard or the Gobins.  Also, surprisingly, there were few collectors from Japan and Europe here also.  Having been at the East Coast show last August and this one here in September it is interesting to contrast those two.   The market was very brisk in Springfield while there were a lot of dealers who were sucking swamp gas at the hotel and main shows.  Location at those venues clearly affects the sales of minerals.  I am starting to sense that the East Coast Show might be surpassing the Denver Show in terms of importance to collectors.  I heard from many dealers that there sales at Springfield were significantly higher than at Denver.   It could also just be a blip on the radar that will self correct over time. 

China and Asia in general seem to be producing much of the significant new finds and the quality continues to be quite good.  There were a lot of dealers handling Tsumeb material.  There is clearly a short term glut of specimens from Tsumeb on the market.  Collector's Edge, with Martin Jensen, seem to be finding a lot of the new material coming out of China.  The wurtzite specimens are, in my opinion, the best new material presented at the show.

It has been a year since the Rocksmiths left the business and no one has really come a long to fill their shoes.  Pricing for minerals is all over the place and the Rocksmith anchor would be nice to have around for collectors in these choppy pricey seas....
 



At the end of the show Steve Perry and I loaded up our vehicles and started back home to California. 
I made it to Cheyenne, Wyoming the first night while Steve powered on to Rawlins.


The scenery along Interstate 80 is compelling to say the least.  While blasting along the Bonneville Salt Flats 
on I-80 about 90 miles west of Salt Lake City I encountered a huge sculpture.  Don't ask me of what as I have 
no idea.... The traffic was non-existent and I felt safe pulling out the camera to snap a few shots at 75 mph.




You can expect to see minerals from the show being posted to the website over the next several days.  Lots of items to photograph!!  Then it will be time to set my sites on Munich for the show there in late October!

Cheers from Denver 2004,

 


 

Past Shows & Reports
PLEASE NOTE: The minerals that were offered on these pages are all sold
1999
Munich Show
2000
Sainte Marie Show
Munich Show
2001
Sainte Marie Show
Munich Show
2002
Tucson Show
Sainte Marie Show
Denver Show
Munich Show
2003
Tucson Show
Sainte Marie Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show
Munich Show
2004
Tucson Show
West Coast Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show
Munich Show
2005
Tucson Show
West Coast Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show
Munich Show
2006
Tucson Show
Bologna Show
Sainte Marie Show
East Coast Show
Munich Show
2007
Tucson Show
Dallas Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show
Munich Show
2008
Tucson Show
West Coast Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show
Munich Show
2009
Tucson Show
West Coast Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show
Munich Show

2010
Tucson Show
San Francisco Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show

Munich Show

2011
Tucson Show
San Francisco Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show
Munich Show

2012
Tucson Show
West Coast Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show 
Munich Show

2013
Tucson Show
Sainte Marie Show
Crystal Days (Poland)
Munich Show  

 

 
Join the mailing list for Trinity Mineral Co. and MineralShows .Com

Subscribe | Unsubscribe


All text, specimen images, graphics & site desgin copyright 1998-2014 - John Veevaert  - trinityminerals.com