Mineral Shows - Trinity Mineral Co

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Show Reports

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Well, here we go. Tucson 2005 is in full gear! I have been here in Tucson since January 22nd and have had plenty of time to get adjusted to the chaos which this place generates for all of us mineral enthusiasts. This year the chaos is flavored with added driving times due to increased distance between venues. The old Executive Inn show, managed by Marty Zinn since forever, is now under new management with a competing show. Marty, in turn, has established new shows at the Smuggler's Inn, Ramada Inn and Clarion Inn as well as keeping the Inn Suites and Mineral Market Place venues. Hence, we're all getting to know the road system here in Tucson better than we ever thought we would.

One observation about Tucson is that it is apparent that the Planning and Transportation Departments in the County government did not place much emphasis on moving people efficiently though the town. Either that or someone in the higher eschalons of County Government has a lot of stock in the company that makes stop lights.... Once you veer off of I-10 or I-19 you are stuck on surface streets and that means A LOT of stop and go driving. Surface streets are the only route for well over 95% of the greater Tucson area. Coming from a county in California that does not have a single stop light (Yes - Trinity County, California does not have a single stop light and the county is almost the size of Connecticut!) makes red lights and green lights a bit more than annoying after the 20th stop and go... A friend of mine in Italy - Dr. Alessandro Genazzani - said once that red lights in Italy are "merely an opinion". I can attest to the fact that the people in Italy drive like that. It is the norm and everyone is on the same page so to speak. Unfortunately, it is apparent that the Tucson drivers were schooled under an Italian influence. I find myself "shocked and awed" by people darting into an intersection 2-3 seconds AFTER the light is red and opposing traffic has already entered the intersection. Several times I have been the recipient of an Arizona Salute (a crude gesture which requires the use of only one finger) and blaring horn because I decided to stop at the red light... The moment passes and life goes on but it is worth noting that this place is nuts behind the wheel!

The first few days here were cool and wet - very wet with local flooding in several areas due to dry washes not being their usual dry selves.

Looking north up Alvernon from the Clarion Lobby.

The Clarion Hotel sign - water and mud.
What the first three days have been about here.

There was not much to see until yesterday (January 27th) as people were only trickling in and took extra time to unload due to the rain. One of the first dealers I stopped to see at the Clarion was KARP. Ivo always has a fine array of interesting material and this year was no different. He had a new find of crystallized gold from Russia that was enough to make your brain believe that your eyes were on drugs - beautiful octahedral crystal with deep hoppered development. Ivo only had only three of these and I was fortunate to get my hands on one of these. It is a thumbnail specimen only and it is already sold but it is definitely worth posting here for you to see. Sit back in your chair and cross your eyes to merge the X's. Whammo - 3D!

Specimen of two crystals of native gold from the Berezovsk Mine, Russia.
The crystal on the left is 1.1 cm across. This specimen sold for $4,000.

Ivo also had some specimens of sperrylite (I bought one with an association of cabriite - a very rare palladium bearing mineral) and several specimens of beta-chalcocite. I picked up two of these - a matrix specimen and a single TN specimen pictured below.

Specimen of beta-Chalcocite 2 cm in length from Dzhezhazgan, Kazakhstan.

Here is the best specimen of sperrylite with cabriite from KARP. The large crystal in
the deep recess is 1 cm across - the 1.5 mm cabriite crystal is shown in the close up.
This specimen is ~~available~~ Sold for $1,000.

You may recall at the Denver Show last year I reported on the new and limited find of cavansite included calcite from the Wagholi Quarry in India. Dr. Hamant Merchant, better known as Mineral Decor, had promised to bring several specimens to show me in Tucson when I saw him at the Munich Show last October. True to his word he had a box with what he described as the six best and absolute last specimens that there will be from this find. Having seen all of them at the Denver Show last year I can agree that that is the case. I bought all six and will be showing them at the Main Show in Steve Perry's booth. The best is a 20 cm specimen with numerous crystals to 2 cm in length all evenly included with a spray of cavansite crystals.

Here is my best specimen and also the best from the find. A 13 x 13 x 12 cm
specimen with crystals to 1.8 cm in length. This specimen is available for $3,000.00

Dr. Merchant was kind enough to let me snap a shot of him standing with Terry Huizing who is anything but shy... ;^)

Two other specimens I saw in Dr. Merchant's room - a new find of mordenite with
blue chalcedony from Aurangabal District in India and a specimen of cavansite
with a cluster of calcite from the Wagholi Quarry.

After collecting the calcite specimens I thought it was time to shove off to the Inn Suites for more mineral adventures. So off I went into the Tucson asphalt grid work...

Here I am on the road to the Inn Suites.

Here I am about 10 minutes later still on the road to the Inn Suites...

More about what I found at the Inn Suites after my trek across Tucson tomorrow...

Past Shows & Reports
PLEASE NOTE: The minerals that were offered on these pages are all sold

1999 Munich Show	2000 Sainte Marie Show Munich Show	2001 Sainte Marie Show Munich Show	2002 Tucson Show Sainte Marie Show Denver Show Munich Show
2003 Tucson Show Sainte Marie Show East Coast Show Denver Show Munich Show	2004 Tucson Show West Coast Show East Coast Show Denver Show Munich Show	2005 Tucson Show West Coast Show East Coast Show Denver Show Munich Show	2006 Tucson Show Bologna Show Sainte Marie Show East Coast Show Munich Show
2007 Tucson Show Dallas Show East Coast Show Denver Show Munich Show	2008 Tucson Show West Coast Show East Coast Show Denver Show Munich Show	2009 Tucson Show West Coast Show East Coast Show Denver Show Munich Show	2010 Tucson Show San Francisco Show East Coast Show Denver Show Munich Show
2011 Tucson Show San Francisco Show East Coast Show Denver Show Munich Show	2012 Tucson Show West Coast Show East Coast Show Denver Show Munich Show	2013 Tucson Show Sainte Marie Show Crystal Days (Poland) Munich Show

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