Tucson 2011 - Part 3

And now the third and final part of my Tucson 2011 reporting - The TGMS show (and associated events). The TGMS show has been running now for fifty nine years, and is the cornerstone of the Tucson mineral activities. It's a busy four day show in the main convention centre.

As we have for the last three years, Mindat.org had a booth at the show, decorated in party fashion (thank you Jessica!) to celebrate the 10th anniversary of mindat.org



The theme of this year's show is Minerals of California. And what better way to start this theme than with this classic Tourmaline Queen mine elbaite.



One of the many displays of Californian minerals was this cabinet of "Unusual" San Diego Co. minerals, featuring specimens from the Gene and Roz Meieran and Bill Larson collections.









A new find of spodumene from the Oceanview mine in California was on display at the show, including some wonderful bicoloured crystals.





Also on display, under armed guard, was the Ausrox gold nugget, a whopping 23.26kg of gold! Found last year by a metal detectorist in Western Australia, the bullion value alone of this nugget is worth over $1 million US.



and next to it, from the Smithsonian, the Cullinan Blue Diamond, which is set into a necklace. The Cullinan Blue Diamond, gifted last year to the Smothsonian, was commissioned to commemorate the discovery of the Cullinan Diamond in 1905 - the largest rough diamond ever found.



It was very nice to see the Tucson Police Department, guarding the exhibits, were taking time out to talk to visitors about the exhibits they were guarding - explaining the history and illuminating them when necessary!



And you know I do love it when I get to see good British minerals at a UK show. And this year I was stunned to see a display of minerals from the Williams Caerhays Mineral collection. This collection was neglected for over a hundred years, but has now been put back on display in Cornwall, and I'm planning to arrange a visit so I can report on this exceptional collection. I'm especially interested in this because my best Cornish cuprite was originally part of this collection.











Back to dealers. There were two especially exciting debuts of minerals at the show. The first was from Evan Jones, who had a superb batch of Mexican Azurite specimens.













Moving along, we can always count on Justin Zzyzx and Brian Kosnar (Mineral Classics) to bring some gravitas to any event.



And now to the next major find. Regular mindat.org readers will remember discussions recently about the new pyromorphite from Brown's Open Pit, Rum Jungle, Australia, which has been saved and brought to market in cooperation with the mine owners, who have not only allowed these amazing specimens to be saved during the mining process, but have arranged for proceeds from the sale of these specimens to go to local volunteer fire fighter and ambulance services near the mine.







Next stop, Marcus at MineralZone, who has been helping to sell some of the duplicates dispersed by the University of Arizona Mineral Museum, and had these along with other fine specimens at the show.







Wandering around, I always bump into friends.



I showed some Chinese rhodochrosite from Collector's Edge in my previous two show reports, but the best was saved for last - two incredible specimens displayed at the TGMS show.





Crystal Classics and Kristalle had hosted a Wild West/California Gold rush themed party on the previous saturday night (I had been invited but sadly could not make it), but those of us who missed it were able to catch the Crystal Classics and Kristalle team in full costume at the opening of the show.

















What's that? You want to see another photo of Robin in her blue dress? Well, as you asked so nicely...



Christophe and Brice Gobin had more excellent Congo malachite specimens this year, including this tall artistic piece.



It was nice to see New York dealer John Betts at the Tucson show for the first time in many years.





On the Thursday there was a meeting of the SMMP (Society of Mineral Museum Professionals) at the show, and part of this was a game for museum curators to guess the mineral specimen value. A selection of specimens without location and without name were presented, curators had to identify the mineral AND the price assigned to the specimen by the dealers who were selling them.



And in the evening yet another party graciously sponsored by Gail and Jim (who couldn't be there) Spann, called "Meet the Curators". I was invited, and as I'd already met the curators before, I decided to have fun taking photos.







As I mentioned previously, this Tucson show I put on a display case (along with Jessica Simonoff) of minerals $10 or under. And every mineral was purchased in the previous few days at the shows. Here is the case. You can see on the far row the Vanadinite from John Cornish that was in my previous report.

The specimens were mostly "keystone" (50% discount) or "double keystone" (75% discount) - which means that dealers clearing stock of $20 or $40 minerals had items available that fitted our budget. We were amazed ourselves at the quality of specimens that we could obtain in a relatively short time in Tucson, given a little footwork and digging through flats.

It was my first time putting on a display, and I had certainly underestimated the work involved - thank you especially to Gail Spann who came to the rescue when we were struggling to fit the linings up in the case.







Finally, the Saturday night was the TGMS show silent auction and banquet, and although I didn't win anything in the silent auction, in the banquet I was presented with the Mineralogical Society of America's Distinguished Public Service medal.



And in this last photo, here I am with Jessica Simonoff (left) who had just received an award for best article in the Mineral News magazine, alongside Brandy Zzyzx who had recevied an award for best novice mineral display in the competitive mineral display competitions, and me, with my medal.



The next show, (assuming visas get resolved in time) will be the Moscow and St Petersburg shows, Russia, in April!

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