I went to Tucson last weekend to buy some gems and minerals, meet up with Japanese dealer friends and see what incredible mineral specimens had been discovered since last year.
The Tucson Gem And Mineral Show consists of abut 50 events spread of the city of Tucson for the month of February. My personal favorite event is the Mineral City show, which consists of almost 200 of the world's best dealers & collectors.
And this is only one of the many shows across the city. Let's have a look at what makes Mineral City the best show in the city, the specimens.
The Arkenstone
The Arkenstone is always a must see at Mineral City. They are known for the best of the best and these pictures reinforce that.
This red beryl from the Ruby Violet Claims in Utah is the largest I have ever seen in person.
It was over 1 inch tall. Typically these crystals will not get larger than 3/4 inch. So yes, this is one of the best.
Moving on this brown fluorite on celestine from Clay Center, Ohio was not only huge, over 2 inch crystal, but also very aesthetic with the smaller cubes scattered about.
I'll take all 3 please!
This piece was a show stopper. I can't imaging opening up a small cavern and seeing this.
They are aragonite pillars with calcite tops. Just an incredible find from China. If I remember correctly it was around $135,000. I was a bit short of cash so I moved on.
This beautiful rhodocrosite comes from the Oppu Mine in Aomori, just above my wife's hometown.
The Oppu Mine is famous for these rich, hot pink, botryoidal specimens. I was just visiting the dealer in Japan who sells these pieces and many others, some of which my friend and I bought, but this was one of the best ones.
This sulphur crystal was very impressive.
Lastly, no exhibit is complete without a gigantic aquamarine specimen.
Those crystals are about 2 feet tall and 6 inches thick.
Heading out to another building at the show I came across Miner's Lunchbox gold specimens display. "Cheaper by the shelf!", he reminded me.
These gold specimens on the top shelf are what I was interested in.
They are crystalized gold specimens. The one in the center is from a mine called Round Mountain in Nevada which produces amazing crystalized gold. I have one in my collection that is what turned me on to them. I admired them, but my remaining funds were earmarked for something else I'll show you at the end.
Just down the hall was my friend Chris Lehmann's exhibit so I stopped by to chat and buy.
Chris is a prolific collector of Eastern California minerals since that is where he lives. He's a collector's dealer like me. We go out and find the stuff ourselves, then sell it for too cheap!
I bought 7 flats of Eastern California minerals from him, like these blocky epidote crystals from Mono County he discovered.
This one is available on y Etsy shop until I head back home to Japan.
https://rt395minerals.etsy.com/listing/1869456087/specimen-from-mono-co-ca-epi202501-usa
After hanging out with Chris I went to check out Capistrano Mining's benitoite specimens.
Of all the gems and minerals, benitoite is one of the rarest in the world. Only one place in the world produces crystals over 5mm, the Diablo Mountains in San Benito Co., California. in West, Central California.
There were many new specimens, but none of the large 1 foot plates that run the 10s of thousands of dollars.
While there were many, many other dealers displays to see, I had to get over to a show across the street from Mineral City to buy my wife a gift.
It's a 1.13 carat Benitoite.
Faceted benitoite stones over 1 carat are rare. This stone came from Rona Vreevart, the widow of John Vreevart who was one of the most prolific collectors and creators of benitoite specimens. He also created www.benitoite.com . This was one of John's stones and now it will either go into a ring or a necklace for my wife's birthday. I'm ecstatic to have it and my wife has always wanted one so, I bought it!
That concludes my day at Mineral City. It was another great year and I am looking forward to someday exhibiting in Tucson in the future. Until then, thanks for reading!
For more information on Mineral City you can visit their website here - https://mineral-city.com/
