A Rock Show

The title says a lot and very little. I want to share with you my trip to THE Tucson Rock Show this year with you. A lot of folks call it the Tucson Experience. Well it is that alright, an EXPERIENCE in capitals. There is a lot of "stuff" for us visitors to do in and around the city and I will mention several things in passing but will mainly stay on the shows. You noticed I said shows. While THE SHOW is at the Convention Center the actual experience starts the last weekend in January as people begin to set up for many of the OTHER shows. There are over 30 motel/location shows open from the last week of January through the middle of February. It also tends to be a wonderful time of the year to be in the Southwest as the temperatures are in the mid 60 to upper 70s.

Saturday, February 7, 2004

I flew into Tucson direct this year. I usually go by way of Phoenix because it is cheaper on USAir but had a free ticket on Delta. Arrived about 11:00 am Arizona time to warm sunny weather. Picked up the car and headed after rocks. The airport is just south of town off of I-19. You head north on I-10 as you get into the down town area the frontage road is lined with motels full of rock dealers. There are hard sided tents set up with dealers inside. There are vendors in parking lots, in car wash bays, on the sidewalk and any were else they can sell a rock. But I am heading further north with a destination in mind, Best Western Executive Inn, where many of the "good" mineral dealers hang out. Also Top Gem has their sales outlet there in an old loading dock, as well as two tents full of goodies. The Executive Inn has three parts. The front is two levels. Then there is the “ball” rooms, two of them, a court yard with a couple of tents and chairs (very important for tired rock hounds) than a very long two story building almost two football fields long. That is a lot of rocks to look at. I started in the front of the motel. Horst from Germany always has some very nice items. Sometimes even flats for sale at bargain prices. He did this time. Found a flat of golden yellow Wulfenite from Morocco, two Malachites after Azurites and a couple of rare cobaltite minerals. Another lucky find was in a room of a dealer from Argentina – several tables full of Hematite after Magnetite in beautiful octahedrons. The smaller ones made great thumbnails. The China folks were not there in force this year, as usual and the material was not of as good a quality. They need to realize that it is not size but quality of the crystals that matters. It is getting late for a little boy who left Charlotte at 3:15 am and is still trying to move, though somewhat slowly at 6:00 PM Tucson time (3 hours difference). Had Mexican food for supper and headed for my B&B. Was greeted by the three dogs who wanted the treats I had brought them. I crashed early.

Sunday February 8, 2004

I slept the clock around. Eileen (one of the owners and a gourmet cook) had a wonderful breakfast of fresh fruit, breakfast casserole, muffins, tea, and juice. She packed me a take-a-long bag of muffins “to tide me over to lunch”. There is an Organic Market called “Wild Oats” just up the road where I go to get fruit, drinks, and stuff to make lunch out of. No time to spend in getting food in a restruant must look at rocks. Decided to go to the Westward Look Resort Show where the HIGH END dealers are. And I mean the HIGH END. There was not a thing for under $200 and very few of those. Most started at $1,000 and went very quickly up from there. Enjoyed looking but nothing there for me. On back down the road to Inn Suites on the edge of down town. Wonderful place to be. The whole first floor of the motel is for rocks. The rooms are around a large courtyard with a whole building down the middle. Found very nice single Danburite crystals for $XX per pound. The dealer let me sort through and pick out the best for the same price. Another room had flats of English Fluorites from the Rogerly Mine. Purchased a flat of miniatures to small cabs and a half flat of thumbnails. Wonderful color change. The thumbnails are out of this world in quality, very clear with nice color and few to no dings. Picked up three large pyrite crystal clusters from another dealer and then wondered into the gold room. I wish I had money to buy that crystal I saw but it was $XX, XXX WHOLESALE! But I did get several small pieces for thumbnails and the dealer let me rummage through a pan of mixed specimens. Guess what!! I found several small crystals. They usually command about twice what regular gold does. These were from Australia. Had to break for dinner at Furrs (read K&W) because I wanted to go back to the Westward Look for the evening program. It was a panel discuss with Dave Wilber, Peter Bancroft, Bill Larson, William Keys and several other that make up a Who’s Who in Minerals.

Monday February 9, 2004

Breakfast – Fresh OJ, Fresh fruit, ham, waffles, and banana nut muffins……Got my goody bag of muffins and hit the road to Top Gem to see what new thing had been delivered from the warehouse this morning. I cherry picked two flats of Fluorite, Garnets, Wolfromite and Arsenopyrite from China. Good Find. Had to run to Inn Suites to meet friends and pay my subscription to Lapis, one of the new mineral magazines. Then down the road to the motels on frontage drive down town. Got my shopping list out for thing people wanted me to find for them. Beads were high on the list. Did OK but not wonderful. Eighteen inch strands were running from $3 to $20 per strand. Found the opal that a club member wanted. A dealer who was packing up to leave let me pick through a five gallon bucket of opal at a bulk price but let me select what I wanted. I was very disappointed in that there was no good Malachite to be had. The people from Zaire just did not have the quality this year. Bill Logan and I meet up for dinner tonight. Wonderful food and very excellent company.

Tuesday, February 10, 2004

Did I mention breakfast….well, back to the shows. Made my daily stop at Top Gems….They had flats of Hemimorphite and Green Mimetite with Wulfenite from Mexico. The folks of Top Gem hold the mining rights to several mines in Mexico but they are closing several as the out put of specimens does not cover the cost of mining. Will be slim pickings from Mexico for a while. BOY oh BOY I found me a piece for my collection, a new Spinel, Very deep RED, very quality and almost a 0.5 inch across. OH my poor pocket book but it is worth every penny. Wait until you see this one. Stopped in one of the less visited motels. Visited with a dealer who was having a very bad show, very slow sales. Dealt in cut stones. He made me an offer on some blue sapphires (21 plus cts. for 12 pieces) at a price that I could not have bought one stone for. To say the least those blues came home with me. (PS 6 of the 12 stones have already found homes. The rest are up for adoption.) Finally finished with my shopping list for other folks. Decided that a steak was in order for dinner tonight. I went to the east side of town to a place called Pinnacle Peaks. A VERY western steak house, if you wear a tie in they cut it off and nail it to the overhead beams. An 18 oz T-Bone is only $14.00.

Wednesday, February 11, 2004

Today is set-up day at the main show. I begin getting my “stuff” together to put the display together. Cloth, tape, boards, risers, etc. In the process of running my errands found two wonderful Tsumbe Dioptase crystals and a nice bunch of Danburite crystal clusters that I just had to bring a couple home. Well I got the case lined and ready. Begin to arrange minerals and labels. OH MY LORD I WAS MISSING TWO LABLES!!!!!!! RUN IN CIRCLES, PULL HAIR!! But praise be for the wonderful people who are mineral collectors. The Lady next to me had her printer and laptop and as quick as you can say Rhodocrosite I had two new labels to make up for the missing two. Took five hours to set up and they chased me out before I was totally happy.

Thursday, February 12, 2004

Went back to the Main show to finish up the display before opening. I had not planned to stay but got to looking and did. You have to have an appreciation for the size of this building. The annex is the size of the Charlotte Coliseum and is off to one side of the main room. The main room is like two football fields in length. The mineral folks are on the right side four booths deep. The displays run the length of the room with cases on both sides of the midline. The jewelry and other stuff are on the left and the fossil folks take what they can get in the extra space. At one end was the Ship of Gold exhibit. This was the 1880’s ship that went down with the California Gold on it. They had coins, dust, nuggets and bullion. There were bars displayed that weighed 50 LBS. You translate that in to today’s price at $400 per oz. And there were ten or 15 of those. This being the Golden Annuaversity Show in Tucson the theme of course was GOLD. All the big exhibitors brought their gold collections. There were nuggets the size of footballs. Crystals, gold leaf, from all the famous locations in the world. Then to top it off the Smithson not only sent a gold case but the Bismarck Sapphire as well. You could spend an entire day just looking at the exhibits and not cover them all. Every one here who has seen my stuff comments on how nice it is. Well I appreciate that but when you see what some of the folks drag out of the backrooms of their collections you realize just how poor my stuff really is.

Friday, February 13, 2004

Today is packing day. Everything that I will not carry with me on the plane MUST go to UPS today. On my way I stop at Wild Oats for Mesquite Honey for some of my friends back home. In 2003 the Airline broke two jars in my luggage. This time it get shipped UPS. I refuse to clean honey out of my bags again. Well five boxes of about 35 lbs each are on their way back to NC. So the rest of the day is for other things. Drove out through the Saguaro National Monument to Arizona Sonora Desert Museum where I spent the rest of the afternoon. This is a MUST see for anyone going to Tucson. It has a wildlife part, a plant part and a wonder of wonder you guessed it a mineral part. They had just reopened the Hummingbird exhibit. This was an enclosed wire mesh area with heat lamps housing 100 plus hummingbirds. They nest, eat, hold court and raise young while you look on. But watch out they have no problem with dive-bombing you. Very few of the cactus or other desert plants were blooming right then. Some years the gardens are full of blooms but it was just a little cool yet. The mineral area is in a building underground. One entrance is through an old mine tunnel the other is a man made cave with live bats. There are several fine mineral displays in Arizona. This one, one at the University of Arizona in Tucson and one on the state capital grounds in Phoenix. All are excellent. This one is rich in items from Tombstone and Bisbee. Had a wonderful time. Headed back to town. Stopped at an old rock shop that I have known since I first went to Tucson back in the 60’s. The owner had died and his sons are trying to bring order out of the mess. Boxes were covered in dust and cobwebs. Came away with a full flat of thumbnail material of Wulfenite, Cerussite and of all things Legrandites. Was invited to come back next day to look in the back room.

Saturday, February 14, 2004

Did not feel well today, but went back to the Tucson Mineral Shop to go through the backroom. Found some things but not as much as I though I would have. Maybe I just felt too bad to be looking. Drove out to Mission San Xavier for a while. Built in the late 1600 it is in the process of being restored. It has been an active mission to the Indian of Tucson all this time. Went back to my B&B and took a nap before going to the Auction and Awards Dinner. Wonder of Wonder I took the Blue in the Advanced Thumbnails!!!
I felt wonderful until the lady next to me at dinner showed me her new Gold Crystal Thumbnail that was just back from being cleaned. All I can say is WOW!

Sunday, February, 15, 2004

This is a down day. Just killing time. Went to Church then to the Toco Verde Swap Meet (what we would call a flea market) than to another rock show but they were beginning to take down. Finally it is time to take my display case down. Took less than an hour to take down what took five hours to put up. Now to get packed and bags ready to the trip home on Monday. And I still have not told you about the pink Smithsonite that I found, nor the Axinites, nor the Lazulites or about the time Jack King and I was to get together to look at opals and he went one way and I the other and we did not make connections. Nor did I tell you about the Marta Ortiz pot that I just about bought. I have not talked about the gem shows and the bead shows and the fossil shows or about the antique shops etc. And I did not do a lot of the things that someone usually does in Tucson like Old Town, the art museum, Old Tucson the movie set etc. You could start at the end of January and stay until after the show closes and not see it all. It is the

TUCSON EXPERIENCE!

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