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Tucson 2003
Final Thoughts on the Show

Well the show has finally started to wind down for me.  My wife Colleen arrived here a few days ago and we will begin the process of shipping minerals from Tucson on Monday the 17th.  We'll finish that up and then do some other non-rock related activities like bird watching, hiking, and visiting places like Bisbee, Nogales, Tombstone and Organ Pipe National Monument.  Lots to do here in southern Arizona!

This year's show has been overall pretty good in terms of quality minerals available.  (
Before I go any further I should state that I am not the final authority on what is new here at Tucson or any other Show - not even close to anything like that!  I am merely reporting to the interested visitor on what I am seeing that is new to me and offering my insights along the way.  My main goal is to help collectors be more informed and less susceptible to hype which is running rampant these days.  I would encourage everyone to read as much as they can from as many sources as possible to ensure that you build your collection from a knowledgeable perspective.) Common complaints heard during the past couple weeks are that prices are too high and that there's not much new in the way of minerals.   Though this is true to a great extent I would offer that if one is willing to beat the bush, be critical, and realistic there are plenty of new minerals coming to the market and there are plenty of good buys for the money. But "you gotta dig um up".

Another interesting tidbit to chew on here was a comment in the show guide from Marty Zinn in his annual welcome message indicating that the show dates would be changed to an earlier period in 2004.  The text below is a quote from the guide:

"After many, many, many, many, discussions, meetings, surveys, and inquiries, we are going back to the ten day show time period. The 2004 show will start on Saturday and send the second Monday.  2004 show dates are Jan. 31 to Feb. 9."

Many dealers here about popped an artery in their necks over the shift in dates since it was to end a few days before the Main Show would begin meaning a few days of down time and increased expenses.  Marty Zinn, ever the pragmatist, responded to the uproar by changing the proposed date schedule back to something more akin to the one developed for this year.  Net result - no change for 2004 ... Ah the drama of life's little challenges. 

A recap of the new stuff:  For new finds the beryls from Madagascar seem to be the winner for Tucson 2003. There has been a tremendous stir here over these. The "buzz" is that these will likely be classified as a new species or a new variety of beryl at the very least. There is way too much cesium in the molecule for it to be morganite and so much so that it is not likely going to remain being called beryl.  Needless to say the prices being asked for these has about doubled in less than 10 days! And they weren't cheap when I purchased the 12 that I did "back then". This will be an interesting item to watch over the next few months to see just how many of these turn up and how the prices move on them. Several sources have confirmed that the locality is not likely to produce again without substantial investment.

Other interesting finds that were here were the new richterites (likely to be a new species) and dravite specimens from Afghanistan that Dudley Blauwet brought, the new find of Fluorite from Argentina from Jorge Dascal, the new Chinese mimetites brought here by many dealers, Wayne Thompson brought some fabulous new epidotes out of Keyna, the new amethyst from Afghanistan, new Millerites from Nevada that Casey Jones and Scott Kleine had and the fine new herderites from Brazil provided by Hawthorneden.

There were also too numerous to count examples of fine minerals available from known localities.  China continues to crank out great minerals and there is no indication that this is about to let up.   Kokcha Valley in Afghanistan is also a treasure trove of interesting minerals.  If only the politics of that region could get sorted out there would likely be many new finds reaching the market regularly. There is a lot of apprehension being expressed by those folks who travel to that region regularly.  I would suspect that material from Afghanistan and Pakistan might become a bit light for the next year or two until all this war business either gets going or put back on the shelf.  What a mess it all is.

My biggest goof up
: Early on in the show at the Inn Suites I bought a flat of tourmaline specimens from the Gochenhour's who operate the Cryo-Genie mine.  This is a relatively new locality for tourmaline from San Diego County, California.  Just a couple days ago I took the time to look these over carefully and found that over 80% of the specimens - essentially all of the single crystals were glued back together.  One specimen in the flat was labeled as repaired but the rest of the crystals in the flat were not... There are a few of them that were not glued back together again but I am going to take them home to make sure before posting any of these.  
(Dana Gochenhour contacted me a short while ago offering to take all of the specimens back.  Apparently this flat was, according to him, mistakenly put out before the specimens were labeled repaired. Regardless, it is another example of why the old addage "buyer beware" is true.  If I can make a mistake there are a lot of other folks out there who can too...

The rock that got away: A specimen of vonbezingite from the Kalahari that I found out about from Brent T.   These are just simply not available. Brent  T found one and was rightfully joyous about it.  That was a significant score Brent!

Most important rock here in Tucson (?): This year's recipient of the Bill Pinch Award, Dr. Mark Feinglos, pointed out a specimen of samsonite from Germany to me.  Mercy!  This is such a good rock for SUCH a rare species that it has to be noted.  It was here from the Musuem in Bonn and was in one of the displays in the Convention Center.  Rare minerals aren't for everyone as they tend to not be glitzy and dazzling. But when the number of specimens of a given species are counted in single or double digits their importance to mineralogy, in comparison to things as relatively abundant as tourmalines and diamonds, is orders of magnitude greater in significance.  The rock below is one such item to consider in that realm.



This is a photo of Dr. Mark Feinglos.  This year's recipient of the Bill Pinch Award. Mark is a professor
at Duke University in the field of Endochrinology. The mineral feinglosite is named in his honor.



Crystals of samsonite to 1+ cm in length are found on this specimen.

My best personal find here at Tucson: I have to extend my thanks to Alfredo Petrov for bringing to Tucson two specimens of benitoite from Japan! I bought one off his display at the Executive Inn and Kiyoshi and Eriko Kiikuni presented the other one to me as a gift.  I NEVER expected to see something like that here at Tucson and to get two of them just plain rules!

What was missing here in Tucson: No question - The Rocksmith's.  Jaye, Bill, Eldon and Jean have been here for decades and now they're gone.  Quality specimens at reasonable prices were scarce this year and the correlation between the abscence of the Rocksmith's and the above observation can not be overstated.  Jaye says that they spent Tucson time enjoying themselves and only missed seeing old friends.  But she said they did not miss the work.  I can assure you Jaye that Tucson missed the Rocksmith's...

Well that will do it for another round of Tucson.  The next planned show for me in Sainte Marie aux Mines in France in June but we'll see what comes up as another possibility for reporting on between now and then.

See you all here next year!
 



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)
East Coast Show
Munich Show

2014
Tucson Show
Denver Show 

Munich Show

2015
Tucson Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show 
Munich Show

2016
Tucson Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show 
Munich Show

2017
Tucson Show
Munich Show

2018
Tucson Show

 
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