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


 

February 13, 2002
Set Up Day at the Main Show


I spent most of the day today at the main show site at the Tucson Convention Center.  Virtually all of the dealers were there and busy frantically setting up their display booths.  Folks, this is hard and very unglamorous work!!!

Today's show report will be mostly just a photo journal of people I saw setting up their display cases or show booths.
 
 

First stop - Andy Seibel's booth.  Andy is the son of John and Barbara Seibel.  He lives in Tehachapi, California.  Andy has ALWAYS got a superb display of minerals from global locations.  Junk and Andy are never used in the same sentence.   He had some remarkable new rutile specimens from Brazil that will be available here at the mainshow and likely on his website later this month - andyseibelminerals.com.

Rutile from Minas Gerais, Brazil.
This specimen is about 4 cm across.


 

Here's Dave Bunk doing what every dealer loves to do: clean glass display cases.  Dave also always has top quality
material available for sale.  He says he will be working harder on managing his website in the coming year - davebunkminerals.com.



 

At the Collector's Edge booth Sandor and Helena are working to lay out specimens and also to get the lights "just right"


Also working at the Collector's Edge booth is Steve Behling.  Hey I would be smiling 
like that too if I were being able to handle that many great mineral specimens!!


Here's two pictures of Dan Weinrich's booth area.  Dan had a large array of fine Illinois Fluorite specimens available... Yes, I did pick up some of them though I have well over 250 specimens of the stuff at my home in Weaverville, California.  You can't help it when you see gorgeous fluorite specimens. Dan also said he was looking to pick up a new collection of Cave In Rock material after this show... Dan the Fluorite Man! Of course, fluorite is only a small component of Dan's inventory.  He's got 100's of top quality global locality specimens. 


I swung by the Kristalle booth.  Wayne and Dona Leicht are well known for their high quality gold specimens.  Here's Dona with that "283 specimens placed and 876 specimens still to place" look in her smile!  We're talking pure fun here folks!
 


 

Here's Cal Graeber and Leonard Himes.  These two dealers share a booth together. See how empty the cases are? 
And see the look on their faces? Yowza!  Both Cal and Leonard always have exceptional specimens on display. 
Junk is a word that is not understood in the vicinity of their booth.



 

Right around the corner from Cal's and Leonard's booth is the UK Mining Venture booth - source of the finest Rogerley Mine fluorites that there are.  Here's Jesse Fisher and his wife Joan setting up.  Jesse has that look of "hey! If you have time to take pictures then you have time bump flats of heavy fluorite from the parking lot to this booth"... Not this ol' cowboy!  On the right Jesse is holding a fine specimen mined this past summer in the land that rarely has sunlight and is eternally green like the rocks.

 

Here's Herb and Monica Obodda in the process of setting up display cases.  Cleaning and assembly is what it is all about. 
On the right Herb is looking at the pieces and intructions:  Take bolt A, insert into hole B.  Use wrench Q in right hand to turn bolt A while holding glass shelf X with left hand and chin.   Use right elbow to support side glass pane Z while using wrench Q.  A few moments after this was shot Herb was wondering where the magic wand was...  All kidding aside Herb has some of the finest mineral specimens you could hope to find at a show.  In general his material is among the best at any show he displays at.



 

Here's the Western Minerals booth managed by Gene and Jackie Schlepp.  Gene is seen plowing through the flats filled with fabulous specimens in search of the right color combination for the display.  You can not find a bad rock anywhere in this booth!!!

 

Adjacent to Western Minerals is Sharon and Eugene Cisneros of Mineral Research Company based out of San Jose, California. 
Sharon and Eugene have a tremendous inventory of mineral species and is the systematic mineral collector's best friend with literally
tens of thousands of specimens of rare mineral species. 



 

Here's Harvey Gordon from Reno, Nevada.  Poor Harvey suffered a broken left leg recently and was directed by his physician to stay off his feet.  Hey!  I want that job!  Harvey owns the now famous Zapot Mine (Topaz spelled backward) in Nevada that is famous for producing some of the finest blue topaz crystals from North America.  Harvey has been an avid field collector for decades and has a full warehouse in Reno to prove it!


Here's a quasi before and after shot of Bill Stone of Sunnywood Collection getting the shop in order.  Bill is well known for producing custom stands for premier mineral specimens.  Walking into his show case area is like walking into the Smithsonian Institution!



 

Here's French dealer Francois Lietard in a before and after sequence.  Francois makes regular trips to Morocco and Pakistan for mineral specimens of exceptional quality.  He also supplies a large number of rare species found from these regions. 

 


 

Here's Ernesto Ossola on the left and Frank and Wendy Melanson of Hawthornenden Minerals on the right. 


 

Here's Isaias Casanova seated (IC Minerals) at his booth.  Isaias has a fabulous array of Tsumeb material.  Every time I see him he has newer and seemingly better specimens from this venerable locality...  He is either making these things in his garage or he has great connections for access.  I tend to think that it is the latter.  On the right is Les Presmyk with the striped shirt (deNatura Minerals).  Les also does specimen preparation and cleaning work out of his home in Phoenix.   Always lots of great Arizona material in his booth!
 


 

Lots of cases with dislpays are set up on this day also.   Additionally, this is a time to reconnect with friends.  On the right is a candid shot of Stuart Wilenksy (arms folded), Wayne Thompson (red hair) and Irv Brown (back to the camera) in a thoughtful discussion. 

 

 

Here's Gene Meieran setting up his display of unbelievable aquamarines.  Here it is after they're all in place... Wow!
 

Here's Steve Smale setting up his display booth.  The folks standing around left a pool of drool after Steve was finished.  Steve and Clara Smale regularly place a full page color ad in the Mineralogical Record with pictures of specimens from the private collection.


 

Here's noted Tusmeb collector Marshall Sussman working on his display of Tsumeb specimens.  Marshall and his wife Charlotte easily have the finest personal collection of Tsumeb specimens in the United States. 
 


 

The last shot of the day is taken at the Rocksmith's booth.  Jay and company traditionally open their booth during set up day and there is always a crush of people trying to get in.   In this photo Jay is way in the back.  In the foreground are Renato and Adriana Pagano of Italy with some new pieces for their collection.  You may recall that at the Munich Show this past October the Pagano's had some remarkable specimens of behierite from Madagascar.  As it turns out Renato brought with him one of the finest specimens of behierite I have ever seen - a nearly 1 cm perfect crystal on matrix.  He also had three very fine specimens of Chevkinite-Ce.  He left both of these specimens with me to post on the mineralshows.com website.

 

During the day I had many conversations with collectors and dealers alike.  I had a particularly memorable talk with Ralph Clark of Colorado who reminisced about the late Jim Minette.   Ralph told a story about his and Jim's quest for the killer benitoite specimen for their collections and what they went through to get one - each was in competition to "one up" the other.  When they finally showed each other what they had found at the end of their quest their peices were nearly identical.  Ralph also told me that Jim's Collection is being kept intact (depsite the efforts of a few unnamed, short-sighted, and thoughtless dealers to get some of the better pieces) so that it can be displayed at the Springfield Show this coming August.  There is also a tribute that will be held in Jim's honor on Saturday night.   It is tough when the mineral community loses someone like Jim...

I received a note from Jim Ahl who knew Jim Minette quite well and graciously granted me permission to post his letter the web.   I have received another note from California collector John Frey about Jim Minette.  John has graciously granted me permission to post his note to the web also.  If you have a story you would like others to hear about regarding Jim Minette, please feel free to send it to me and I will set up a permanent record of them on this site. Send your note to john@trinityminerals.com

Note from Jim Ahl
Note from John Frey

More tomorrow,

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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