TUCSON 2002 SHOW REPORTS
February 1 February 2 - 3 February 4 - 6 February 7 - 8 February 13th
February 14th February 15th


 

February 7-8, 2002

I have done some more snooping about the rock capital of the world and found some more interesting items.

I visited Gilles Haineault (Haineaultite) who had just set up his room at the Executive Inn on the 7th.  Gilles is best known for the finest specimens available from Mt. Sainte-Hilaire.  I spent the better part of 2 hours visiting with him and looking over the material that he brought.  As always, he had some great TN sized specimens.  I tried to focus on getting things I had not seen before and was really smitten by the specimens of willemite crystals he had from MSH.  I picked out several of the best he had and also about a dozen other TN sized specimens - mainly for their perfection.  I also selected a small group of perfect carletonite TN crystals.  These are longer prismatic crystals and all are very gemmy with fine terminations.  Unfortunately, all are without matrix.

While in the room the What's New reporter for the Mineralogical Record, Tom Moore, walked on in.  I took the chance to snap a picture of both Gilles and Tom before heading out. I am sorry to report to all who look to Tucson to get prime specimens from MSH that Gilles indicated to me that he will not be returning to Tucson next year. He will be setting up at the Springfield Show in Massachusetts and also Rochester.  Tucson, however, is now off his radar after the 2002 show...
 
 
 

These two shots show Gilles' main show case with super specimens of serandite and carletonite.
The piece pictured on the right was featured in the Mineralogical Record last year.  Anyone recognize
the guy on the left there?...


Here's Tom Moore (left) and Gilles yucking it up.  And on the right Gilles is about to tell me
how many dishes I have to wash to pay for the specimens I purchased...


Here's a specimen of serandite - Gilles' finest available.  It measures 6.5 cm across and sells for $2,500. The color
is the famous salmon orange.
Here's a spsecimen of serandite with an analcime crystal perched on it.
 It measures 5 cm in height and sells for $750. The color is not quite the famous salmon orange.




Elsewhere in the Executive Inn I spent some more time with Francois Lietard.  I actually visited Francois at the end of January to see what was in his room.  Fortunately, QUITE A LOT as ususal.  He pulled about 30 boxes from under his table and bed and I went nuts.  There is a new find of scapolite crystals of exceptional quality from the Pitwak Mine, Kokcha Valley, Badakshan, Afghanistan (you know, what in the world are they going to find in this area next?).  I have only seen good ones in the hands of Herb Obodda and Francois.   Interestingly, several of the crystals are partially altered to what is believed to be a member of the sodalite family.  I hit one of them with a good dose of SW UV light and one of the specimens developed some magenta hues suggesting that it might be hackmanite.  Really wierd stuff!  So for now, however, it being referred to as an unknown mineral.  I suspect that the unknown is in the sodalite group as the color of the better specimens is blue.  Unaltered material under the alteration rind fluoresces bright yellow under SW UV light.

Francois also had a fine array of odds and ends that I could not resist getting.  There were superb specimens of analyzed wendwilsonite from Morocco, afghanites, garnets, beautiful green herderite, a few fine erythrites left from the now famous and depleted 1999 find, a new find of black spinel with chondrodite from (where else?) Badakshan, and some primo hackmanites.  I also fell into temptation and selected several very fine specimens of vanadinite from Morocco.  I have reported from all around Europe and the US that vanadinite is not rare and likely never will be.  The prices are finally starting moderate - well, at least if you can find the right people to select from and Francois is the right person in my mind.
 

Here's a shot of one of the wendwilsonites and a fine specimen of the new scapolites var. Meionite from Afghanistan.


Here's a specimen of the new black spinels with chondrodite and the green herderite.


While I think of it, while visiting Herb Obodda a few days back, he had one of the legitimate vayrynenite specimens from Afghanistan (You may recall that 2 years ago I was provided a hoard of vayrynenite specimens that after xray analysis proved to be childrenite).  Herb's was the genuine article.  It is also huge!!!  A very fine and large 1.3 cm crystal pictured below.  Not cheap at $4,000 but extreme rarity and being in the top eschelons of its species supports the price!
 
 

Gemmy crystal of vayrynenite measuring 1.5 cm in height.

On Feb 8th I visited with Dudley Blauwet of Mountain Minerals.  He was set up in the Raddison Hotel in downtown Tucson near the Convention Center and this was opening day.  This place is strictly gemstone sales for wholesalers.  There was more prefume and aftershave in the air than anywhere else in the state of Arizona in this building!   I stuck out like hobo in the first row of pews in a church during a visit by the pope but maintained my meager air of dignity and waltzed up to Dudley's room to see his stash of Paki and Afghan minerals.  For those of you who don't know Dudley he spends a lot of time each year in Asia and the countrys of Pakistan, Burma, and Afghanistan looking for the best the region has to offer there.   He's got nerves of steel as he blends into the population about as well as I blend into the population at the Raddison.  Anwyay, he's always a good source for fine minerals from the region.

I spent a good 1.5 hours plowing through all of the flats in his room and made some good finds I believe of beryllonite, bastnaesite, several purple sapphires, two very fine tanzanite crystals and some other odds and ends then made my way out his door and into the gemstone circus.
 

Here's a specimen of purple sapphire from Hunza Valley, Pakistan and a specimen
of beryllonite with tourmaline! from the Gilgit area of Pakistan.



 
 

Here's a 1.3 cm doubly terminated crystal of bastnaesite and a 2 x 1.2 cm crystal of the new tanzanites Dudley had.

Well that's it for now.  The next report will be from the mainshow mid week next week when it starts to set up.

More then.

John
 

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

 

 



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