Dallas show report. Collector's perspective~

The weather couldn't have been better and the temps were wonderful. With no rain other than a small sprinkle on Friday morning, the show was underway. This is an interesting set up for the dealers, the hotel has an open atrium area in the middle so you can look up and see all the balconies and floors. When you enter there are large white quartz and plates of amethyst quartz to greet you care of Tom Nagin's efforts.
You enter the elevator and step out into a world of rooms with signs showing the business names and a menu of dealers. The choice is yours as to whether you go clockwise or counterclockwise. Being a traditional woman, I chose clockwise. We visited many wonderful dealer rooms, these are spacious with nice couches and the bedrooms are in the back in another room, so doors are closed and you feel more like you are in someone's living room.
Jim managed to drop in on Friday ( I was busy cooking and getting ready for the Spann Soiree ), so it was Saturday before I made it there and the hall was bustling with people of all ages.
We roamed and socialized, talked minerals and met new people. Some items we saw were spectacular and the place was abuzz with talk of scorodites and fluorites, scheelites and everything in between.
( Got to go pick up the grandson from school, will write part 2 when I get back! )

The crowds were a nice mixed bunch, all ages and both genders represented well.
We ran into many familiar collector faces and managed to chat about latest acquistions. We only managed just over half the rooms on the second floor before heading out to dinner with friends for a wonderful meal at the San Francisco steak house across the street. I pretty much collapsed when we got home, it was a long day!
So many rocks, so few days....

Sunday, We snuck past the second floor and went straight to the third floor. ( We heard there was someone on the fourth floor who was selling out of his room but not part of the show, tsk tsk! )
We walked into Wendy's minerals and met Wendy. She had some wonderful neon green pyromorphite t/n's and toe nails that were fabulous. Her selection was very nice and we hope to get to know her better.
We popped into most rooms and picked up business cards when they were a bit crowded and ended up in Evan Jone's room where the ambiance is always delightful. I managed to pick up a gorgeous hematite "kidney ore" from Cumbria and was pleased to add that to my collection of eight or nine others. The price was very inexpensive and the quality was top notch. We purchased a number of specimens from Evan and another dealer sharing space with him.
We went to Laurent Thomas's room to see his incredible sliced tourmalines and pezzotaite gem stones. W O W !!!
Each room we entered had something of interest to see and we made new acquaintances along the way. We said goodbye to everyone and As we were leaving we invited some Italian dealers over for dinner and had a grand time talking rocks into the wee hours of the morning.

On Monday night we had Frenchmen for dinner and talked rocks from Madagascar till late, they flew out on Tuesday so had time to come see our collection in a less "busy" atmosphere.

We had the Spann annual Soiree on friday night with almost 200 guests. ( Which is funny as we only invited 140! )
It was so much fun yet crowded where people struggled to really get to look at all the cabinets of minerals. I never saw my husband during the whole party other than to wave to across the crowded room. I had cooked for 140 so we ended up rushing out to buy barbeque and more wine during the party, heck....it turned out fine. Our bartender was exhausted from opening bottle after bottle of wine and her arm was so sore the next day. ( She won't use my new super duper wine opener! )
Thank goodness for my two friends who helped in the kitchen with serving and heating all the food I had cooked. They, too, were exhausted!
We sat up with Irv Brown, Dave Wilber, a local t.v. producer and our son Tom till three a.m. Well, actually I slipped off to bed at 1 but the others stayed up till three. Am already planning for the third annual Spann Soiree next year!
All in all it was a truly wonderful show and we are so honoured that many come to our neck of the woods and we wish to show our appreciation.

Hmmm, what to serve next year?...

Hi Gail,

Thank you very much for providing this show report. I enjoyed reading it and sharing in the fun. As so many others, I sure wish I'd have had the opportunity to come on out and see the show. I've been visiting though, with Justin of the vug ( [www.the-vug.com] ), watching the many movies he's made highlighting some of the shows dealers. There were lots of goodies on the shelves (!!) and that monstrous Erongo fluorite and quartz Gobin's showed Justin from the back room... I wasn't expecting that! Thanks for sharing the Idaho aqua photo too (in another thread), it looks beautiful.

Thanks for sharing! All the very best to you and Jim,

John

Good to hear from you John, I was on your site yesterday....I love to visit it and read your reports too!
We had a chance to see the Gobin fluorite, it was a knock out...but the lighting would have to be done just right for display. It looked like a haunted house when the green "windows" shone through!

Thank you John & Gail for the comments!!

We love travelling at the end of the worldssss to hunt rocks but also what a fun when we see the reactions......
Gail we have the same problem....what to serve next year......tourmalines, aquamarines, fluos.....

All the best

Ah Christophe, we missed you greatly! Brice had a wonderful time and we made sure he was fed well at our party.
Your business is always a class act and we love your travels and acquisitions. Keep it up!

Thanks for the great report Gail, I sure hope to make it there next year. What year are you and Jim going to be involved in displaying at the Springfield show? This year or next?

Hey there Brooks!
I am a guest lecturer on Friday at four p.m. this year in Springfield, but we are the guest exhibitors in Springfield NEXT year, 2009.
So, we will be there both this and next year, woo hoo!
See you there?

I know what a great party I missed and how Brice was fed well at your party...
But I will be there for sure next year!
Thank you for the comments Gail ;-)

Why, you are MOST welcome Cristophe!

I heard there was a pretty great magazine available FOR FREE there too this year.

=)

I had so much fun at the Dallas show!
You ALL need to come to Texas next year, it is a blast!
Oh, and Gail made Polenta. And won my heart. =)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/08/2008 09:36PM by Justin Zzyzx.

Justin you did a great job in Dallas as you did in Tucson! Your videos are really helpfull for both dealers and collectors. Your website "thevug" is a reference for mineralogy websites.

I take the opportunity for you too Ralph because you really do a great job, Mindat is now THE REFERENCE for everything about minerals.I think I go every days just to know what happens!good job really

Merci!!!!!

We have Jolyon coming to our home to be a guest speaker in June, his site is so well used and is often the home page for many mineral people. His visit to Tucson really was a big deal as people had often wondered what kind of person he was and what he looked like. He is one of the nicest people I know. We are thrilled to have him to our home.

I love to visit the VUG also, Brandy and Justin have a slight beatnik point of view...rather easy going and fun. They both managed to make our Spann Soiree last week and we couldn't have been more pleased to serve them polenta and show them our minerals.

Mineral people are SO NICE!