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Report 2

The main show has started today, September 16th. Lots of good minerals here though the same theme is here as well as the hotel - not much new but LOTS of great specimens from released collections. The Collector's Edge of Golden, Colorado is presenting the Illinois collection of Tom Weisner. It is predominantly fluorite specimens of exceptional color from the mines around Cave In Rock and Rosiclaire.

This is a large cabinet specimen from the Denton Mine. It is about 20-25 cm across.

This is a cabinet specimen from the Minerva #1 Mine. It is about 8-10 cm across.

This is one of the display cabinets in the Collector's Edge room. There were a few
fine specimens of rhodochrosite from the Sweet Home mine available but
nothing compared to recent years past. A reflection of the mine's closure.

There are also several new finds of mineral available here. First off is Nevada dealer Jack Crowley. Jack manages the Crystal Mine website and is recently retired from the US Geological Survey. Jack had a small group of gemmy yellow grossular specimens from a very small deposit located in Paymaster Canyon of the Gillis Range in Mineral County, Nevada. Jack said that Al McGuinness heard of some gem yellow grossulars from this canyon having come out in the 1950s. Al search in vain for the outcrop which was said to be in a limestone formation next to the dirt road. Well sometime in the 1980s there was a flash flood which lowered the canyon and eroded much of the road surface. Jack, after spending three years hunting for this deposit found it about 15 feet up the slope with just a trace of the old road left. It was a small 1/2 meter pod of skarn with these yellow grossulars. Jack collected it all and found that most of the matrix was so lousy that he was left with single crystals. Jack did have five matrix specimens available and I purchased them all. This is not one the great mineral discoveries of the year but I find these sorts of items appealing by virtue of the stories behind them. This is also a rare find with very limited specimens to be had. Thanks Jack!

Here is a shot of Jack Crowley taken Saturday morning of the main show.

This is a 2.5 cm specimen with a gemmy 1 cm crystal of grossular.

Kendall Minerals of Littleton, Colorado had 9-10 matrix specimens of gold from the El Oro Province of Ecuador. Specimens of any sort are rarely seen from Ecuador let alone gold! He also had a couple of pyromorphite specimens from El Oro Province in Ecuador. I picked out several specimens of gold and also one geode-like specimen of quartz with myriad small crystals of green pyromorphite. He would not give better locality information other than El Oro Province in Ecuador for either specimen as he was afraid of someone high grading his source for this scarce material. Portovelo and Zaruma are two small towns in the coastal province that are known gold mining areas in the province which translated means the Gold Province. But I can not confirm this as the locality - only El Oro Province.

This is one of the typical specimens I picked up from Kendall Minerals. It has a 3 cm vein exposed
with filigree gold similar to that seen from the Olinghouse mine in Washoe County, Nevada.

Tyson's Minerals of Edmonton Canada had a new find of light amber colored fluorite from the Flamborough Quarry near Dundas, Ontario. These crystals have exceptional glassy luster and are zoned with a phantom that is light amber. Under SW UV light the crystals fluoresce yellowish white and phosphoresce for several seconds afterward. The fluorescence is due to petroleum inclusions.

This is one of the specimens I selected from the new find. It has crystals to 1.5 cm across. The matrix is dolomite.

Arizona dealer Evan Jones had a couple of specimens from the Blue Bell mine in San Bernardino County, California of linarite and caledonite. I have been to this mine numerous times back in the 1970s to collect and I had to spring for two specimens Evan had. One of them is literally covered with flat lying linarite crystals and was previously in the John Sinkankas Collection. John's unmistakable specimen mark is on the back side of the piece. There was another that had some of the best caledonite crystals I have ever seen from this locality. Two great specimens for California locality collectors!

This specimen is loaded with flat lying crystals of caledonite and
linarite. The caledonite crystals are glassy and very gemmy.

This specimen is literally smothered in linarite crystals. The specimen
was previously part of the late John Sinkankas collection.

John Seibel of Tehachapi, California had a new find of fluorite from Oatman, Mohave County, Arizona. John, you may recall, had some light green fluorite specimens last year from this general area. This past summer he went prospecting and found an outcrop which produced these deep violet crystals with octahedral habit.

This is a 4 cm specimen with crystals to 1 cm across.

This is a 9 cm specimen with crystals to 1.5 cm across.

I am always on the lookout for unusual examples of crystal morphology. This year I was wandering through Dudley Bluawet's room at the main show and saw a remarkable specimen of ruby spinel from Pein Pyit, Mogok, Myanmar (Burma). This thing has three crystals which have twinned once with each crystal on a plane to form a double spinel law twin. I have never seen anything like this before. It is without a doubt the most unusual ruby spinel specimen here in Denver. Spinel law twins are not rare in spinel - duh... But this one is! You may recall the specimen that Steve Perry found a couple years ago at Tucson of a dodecahedron modified by octahedral faces. This one is every bit as odd and rare.

Here are two views of this remarkable specimen that is 1.5 cm across.

The next photos are of the setup day and general people photos.

The fun - I mean work begins... Get the stuff in to the place.

More stuff in one of the halls after it has been emptied and placed on display cases.

Getting the many display cases ready for tomorrow.

This is Gene and Jackie Schlepp's (Western Minerals) booth. Well
known collector Jack Halpern is looking over Gene's shoulder.

Here is John Seibel (left) with Idaho collector Allan Young and Cy Nakamoto (John's assistant). Cy works for
Boeing in the Los Angeles area and is an avid collector. Allan has a world class thumbnail collection.

Dan Weinrich's booth moments after the last rock went into the upright case.

This is my benitoite partner Steve Perry. Steve's room was a busy place the first day of the show.

This is a specimen of rhodonite I found in Steve's room from Conselhiero Lafaite, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
The crystal is 4.5 cm in length and blood red!

Between last year and this year the Merchandise Mart went through a little remodeling. This is where the wholesale section used to be but has since been turned into the area where clubs and periodicals had their booths. Les Wagner and Terry Huizing are seen in the center of this photo at the Rocks & Minerals booth.

The view out of my hotel room is not all that bad at sunset. The
Rocky Mountains lie to the west as the sun sets on September 16th.

One more report on the displays at the show in the last installment.

Cheers from Denver!

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

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