Tucson Show 2021 - Live Report (Virtual Show)
Last Updated: 5th Feb 2021By Jolyon Ralph
This is a LIVE report, keep this page loaded for live updates - new images will appear as they are added.
Tucson is very different this year, with Covid preventing International travel and severely restricting what people can do there are only a few dealers actually trying to set up a real online presence in Tucson - so JTI (the company founded by Rock Currier) has developed and launched a virtual show - TheRock.show - and it's open right now for VIP visitors.
To access the show NOW using our VIP code, click here: https://therock.show/main.php?vipcode=VIP6001d0000e4dc
The show consists of several 'bubbles' that represent each of the show events - in this case the largest one is 'TheMineral.show' and the second-largest on the right is 'TheMasterpiece.show for higher value items. Let's go look inside.
Here's inside TheMineralShow. There are a few dealers in the top level, but most are inside named rooms... As you can see mindat.org also has a special place here.
Inside the Miami Room.
And inside Enchanted Minerals they are selling a new find of Pistachio green feldspar crystals - the colour is caused by replacement with epidote.
Close up of one of them. 4.3cm - from the Rusted Revolver Prospect, Otero County, New Mexico, USA
Also in the Miami room is Open Pit Minerals. This is one of the pieces of hyalite opal on rutile that they have, from Novo Horizonte, Brazil. 5.5cm tall.
Come visit the mindat booth - you can even join in the chat there.
Wandering over briefly to the San Luis Room (I'll be back to the Miami room later) we find what's possibly the best mineral dealer name ever "The Leaverite Tycoon" run by Jeremy Zolan. Let's see what he has!
A killer massachusetts amethyst scepter from The Leaverite Tycoon. As you can see some dealers are posting their existing (or new) social media content to the pages so that they can easily embed their Instagram, Facebook or Youtube videos.
Of course Dario is here to promote his LEGO Ideas mineral collection!
Let's get Dario to 10,000 votes! https://tinyurl.com/minlego
Let's get Dario to 10,000 votes! https://tinyurl.com/minlego
Mindat.org has no fewer than five booths in its own special area (thank you TheRock.show!) where we are promoting a bunch of different things.
The one at the top is brand new, let me tell you all about it...
The one at the top is brand new, let me tell you all about it...
Announcing... The Rock H. Currier Digital Library
Combining a massive bibliography of journal articles and books (nearly 3 million records so far) with over 110,000 PDF files, we are building an enormous resource to help with research and validation of information for mindat.org - and so much more!
Eventually we'll run this in conjunction with our real physical library (The Rock H. Currier Library) which is mostly currently in storage in Tucson.
Combining a massive bibliography of journal articles and books (nearly 3 million records so far) with over 110,000 PDF files, we are building an enormous resource to help with research and validation of information for mindat.org - and so much more!
Eventually we'll run this in conjunction with our real physical library (The Rock H. Currier Library) which is mostly currently in storage in Tucson.
Little bargain here from the Fabre Minerals booth - 3.4cm aggregate of twinned disphenoidal (pseudotetrahedral) crystals of Chalcopyrite, with slight iridescence, on matrix.
Herdorf, Siegerland, Rhineland-Palatinate/Rheinland-Pfalz Germany
I won't tell you how little it costs. Go and find it yourself! (search CB14AL8 in Fabre's booth)
Herdorf, Siegerland, Rhineland-Palatinate/Rheinland-Pfalz Germany
I won't tell you how little it costs. Go and find it yourself! (search CB14AL8 in Fabre's booth)
Last photo for tonight - TheRock.show doesn't sleep - it's open 24 hours a day so vendors and visitors from every timezone can make use of the service - but I do need to sleep, so I'll be back reporting from the show again tomorrow.
Also, one other neat thing about this show is that the times listed for vendor opening/closing hours are always in your own local time.
Anyway, back to the photo - Arkenstone - irocks.com are promoting a $1000 giveaway for one lucky person who follows their Instagram account (see their post for full details)
Also, one other neat thing about this show is that the times listed for vendor opening/closing hours are always in your own local time.
Anyway, back to the photo - Arkenstone - irocks.com are promoting a $1000 giveaway for one lucky person who follows their Instagram account (see their post for full details)
After a little drama here today on mindat.org with a broken server we're back (for now!) - I even managed to miss the official launch of theRock.show!
I've finally (just before I sleep) got a chance to do a couple of posts, and then I'll continue the live show report over the next few days. Don't forget that new dealers and new items are going to appear over the next few days - and if you're a dealer it's NOT too late to sign up!
So. Let's start with a room dedicated to mineral non-profit and educational organizations.
I've finally (just before I sleep) got a chance to do a couple of posts, and then I'll continue the live show report over the next few days. Don't forget that new dealers and new items are going to appear over the next few days - and if you're a dealer it's NOT too late to sign up!
So. Let's start with a room dedicated to mineral non-profit and educational organizations.
Exploring the Canadian Museum of Nature
Quickly back to the dealers for tonight. Edelweiss Minerals (in the Miami Room in theMineral.show) has some very inexpensive and very impressive Congo wulfenite crystals.
See - I'm hunting out all the bargains for you rather than buying them up myself!
See - I'm hunting out all the bargains for you rather than buying them up myself!
Ed Loye (look for the rodents in the Miami Room) has this curious Quartz floater on pyrite/Chalcopyrite from Wheal Jane in Cornwall, described as this:
Wheal Jane, Kea, Truro, Cornwall, UK
18cm x 16cm x 14cm
A mad specimen consisting of floater doubly terminating quartz and pyrite crystals (to 1.5cm), with brassy chalcopyrite crystals (to 1cm).
Ex. Mike Richards, a miner at Wheal Jane who worked there until its closure in the early 1990s - one of the last underground mines to shut in this famous mining district after 3000 years of industry.
Wheal Jane, Kea, Truro, Cornwall, UK
18cm x 16cm x 14cm
A mad specimen consisting of floater doubly terminating quartz and pyrite crystals (to 1.5cm), with brassy chalcopyrite crystals (to 1cm).
Ex. Mike Richards, a miner at Wheal Jane who worked there until its closure in the early 1990s - one of the last underground mines to shut in this famous mining district after 3000 years of industry.
Back to the live report, and we're at Unique Minerals who will be uploading new things every day of the show. Today I learned that there's herkimer-style quartz in Arizona! (Diamond Point) - Go to their booth and search QTZ1 to learn more!
How many crystalline specimens do you see from Hawaii? This is one of several selenite specimens from Makapuu, Oahu, Hawaii - offered by Ertashar Pacific Minerals.
One of the nice things about this site is that it allows you see videos that dealers have posted either directly or through their social media accounts. Here is Collectors' Matrix showing a fantastic and unusual howlite specimen from Nova Soctia, Canada.
In mineral publications...
Persson Rare Minerals have this gorgeous elbaite for sale.
Meanwhile... in the Rock Currier Collection, $400 gets you this radioactive yellow furball.
Would you like to see a video of it?
Would you like to see a video of it?
Here you go then!
Let's return to the mindat booth where there's a room for mindat products. Did you know about mindat products? No? Well now's your chance to find out!
First product available is the portable multifunction microscope set. This comes with not just a powerful gemological/mineralogical microscope but a whole set of gem tools that fit neatly into the base and can be packed together in a carry case. A full set of gem equipment in one product.
Lovely little pink smithsonite from Fancher minerals. Now, I know I always keep saying that "magnesite is more interesting than smithsonite" but, well, maybe this smithsonite isn't too bad.
Erythrite (TL) on Quartz - Schneeberg, Erzebirge, Germany - 4.2 x 2.8 x 2.1 cm / Alain Martaud specimen
A delightful old sample showing two pink needle sprays in a quartz vug.
There is an E painted in red, certainly for exchange collections as it was in the Scottish museum of Durban. This sample is a late 18th century coming from a French collection with a lovely label.
A delightful old sample showing two pink needle sprays in a quartz vug.
There is an E painted in red, certainly for exchange collections as it was in the Scottish museum of Durban. This sample is a late 18th century coming from a French collection with a lovely label.
Rubellite tourmaline doesn't come much better than this! Jonas Mine, Brazil. SZ Minéraux specimen - in their Masterpiece Show booth.
But what about this Sanidine from Madagascar! Again from SZ Minéraux.
410g, beautiful baveno law twin.
410g, beautiful baveno law twin.
Here's a fascinating take on the 'rough and cut' theme - a microcline amazonite from Kashale, Konso, Ethiopia. It comes with 13 Neolithic amazonite beads that were found in the nearby Libyan desert. Archeological research from Cambridge University intends to prove that they usually have the same chemical composition than the Kashale samples.
Alain Martaud specimen - from his Masterpiece booth.
Alain Martaud specimen - from his Masterpiece booth.
Don't forget to visit Tama Higuchi's mineral art in the Masterpiece booth.
You can buy some of her prints such as these mineralogical illustrations of thumbnail specimens. Or you can buy one of her original oil paintings.
You can also stop by and commission her to paint your own specimens!
You can also stop by and commission her to paint your own specimens!
Yes, there are fossils too in theRock.show - and these two copulating flies caught in amber are available from Devonian Depot in theFossil.show section.
8mm long millipede in amber, again from Devonian Depot.
Final one I'm sharing from Devonian Depot - Here is a fossil slab from the Holzmaden formation of Germany. It features several vertebrae and rib bones from an Ichthyosaur. It also has several smaller vertebrae from a baby Ichthyosaur. Slab measures 40 x 29 cm. Jurassic age.
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