I stopped off at the Uk Mining Ventures booth to catch up on the latest.  Traffic was brisk 
with many people requesting a better look at some of the "British Green".  The quality
of the fluorites this year is an order of magnitude better than in the previous two years.
In the picture is Jesse Fisher (green t-shirt) and Cal Graeber leaning over the case.

I saw New York dealer John Betts and had to ask what the hell happened.  His response:  " I was riding my bike through Central Park when a "Taliban-trained" hawk dove into me causing me to crash my bike and torque my neck".  You can see the response of the two women behind him.  I damn near dropped my camera after hearing that story. Come on John... What really happened?....  ;^)

While talking to Helen Tyson I  saw this fine 6 + cm carved egg of morganite. 

Here's a shot at the Mineralogical Research Co.'s booth.  That is Eugene and 
Sharon Cisneros in the green shirts manning their booth and fielding questions.

A stunning display of minerals from the collection of the late Art Montgomery presented by the Smithsonian Institution.  
This is a wulfenite specimen from the Red Cloud mine, La Paz County, Arizona.  
It was collected in the 1930's by Ed Over.  The largest crystal is almost 6 cm in height!!

There are always rocks that catch your eye and the large 17 cm gem Aqua in Gene Meieran's 
case and the backlit 20 cm Nigerian Tourmaline in Papajohn's case are two that I did a double take on. 

For all you gold bugs out there who think you've got a great nugget. 
Here is one that is probably a bit better than yours... Keep diggin'

The January/February issue of the Mineralogical Record is focused on Butte, Montana.  Herb and Monica Obodda 
have an interesting collection of souveniers made from Butte copper.  These were available at gift shops in Butte only. 

Here are some absolutely stunning specimens of wulfenite from the Marshall and Charlotte Sussman Tsumeb Collection. Perfection, aesthetic, superb, unreal are all words that only begin to convey the quality of these remarkable specimens. Thank goodness I only collect benitoite...

News!  There has been a new find of tourmaline in San Diego County, California!  The Cryo-Genie mine located east and north of the famous Himalaya mine. The large center specimen is about 40 cm across with a 20+ cm crystal of pink tourmaline. You can expect to see and hear more about this new locality in the future.

This specimen of Pederniera tourmaline was also on display. It measures about 30 cm across. The display also explained how ALL of the tourmalines are destryoed in the mining process and then reassembeled. Rest assured every specimen of this size from this mine is repaired.