FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Jean Sendero]

Let's finish with the winners

And finish with more from Fluospar Road.

All the specimens on Fluospar Road, 9 cases, are all from the same private collection.

And a few cases (specimens) that I caught my eye more than others

[Jean Sendero]

Let's finish up with some Mexican minerals.

Several of the specimens will be illustrated with "real" photography work in the up-coming issue of Rock and Minerals. I had the opportunity to browse through one of the drafts for the article on Fluorite from Mexico and "golly" it will be an interesting issue with great specimens illustrated.

Other than fluorite, Peter Megaw did have case with what is new from Mexico for the past year. Some of these are illustrated below.

[Jean Sendero]

And a couple more

[Jean Sendero]

Here we go. These were the last two photographs. A great Main show that lived up to its promises, "colors of the rainbow".

Hope you enjoy them.

I only have one small regret, I did not get a good photo of the purple fluorite on celestine from Mina Illusion in Coahuila. Very different then El Tule.

[Don Lum]

Jean, thank you for your excellent reports and photos.

Regards

[Gail]

Jean, you are wonderful. And your kindness to offer me a place to get online is very sweet. How nice to know that you are taking photos and tirelessly posting, thanks! We appreciate you.

[Matt_Zukowski]

Jean, your photography is better than mine. And it is good to follow along with someone else's take on the show. Thanks.

[John S. White]

Why the dinosaurs died off!

[Jordi Fabre]

[Jordi Fabre]

The initial days with the starter Shows...

2013 European correspondent of the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show™

[Jordi Fabre]

The Westward Look

[Jordi Fabre]

A little bit crowded, a little bit a social reunion, a little bit friendly, a little bit a great night. The Party! ;-)

[Jordi Fabre]

...

[Jordi Fabre]

...

[Jordi Fabre]

And the time pass and the end of the Show arrives. Is the time of the Main Show (Tucson Convention Center)

[Jordi Fabre]

But nevertheless the most important in the Main Show are, undoubtedly, the display cases...

[Jordi Fabre]

And finally here's is my usual summary of what I believe has been the Tucson Show 2013.

One of the main novelties of Tucson this year has been the absence of news ;-) If in the past the number of new finds was decreasing, their absence in this Tucson has been almost total, just some minor things like the Jacobsites from the N'Chwaning III, the perhaps? small Pyromorphites with Wulfenite and Azurite from Morocco, the Wulfenites on Mottramite-Descloizite and the series-Duftite-Conichalcite-Austinite both from Ojuela Mine, the silver sulfides from the Oaxaca area, the new works in Santa Eulalia with Rhodocrosites and Smithsonites ... and the vast quantity (and quality) of the material from the mines of Huanggang, China... and as far as I know not much more. Just persistent rumors about new and large Wurtzites from Arusha, Tanzania, but as a collector of reference told to me in the Main Show, it seems that the number of best specimens sold "under the table" is increasing so if they were in Tucson, I did not see them.

Due the lack of news, much has been said about the feeling that, at last, the decline of the “crazy prices” with success in sales has begun. I mean, even we continue to see many prices with 5 or 6 zeros, this year several elite collectors said to the sellers that the price did not correspond much to the quality of the piece: "You're crazy" (personal communication) , allowing one to hope to soon reach a "normalization" rather than continuing the race in which it appears that the value of the piece given is its price, not its quality, so that newcomers to the hobby could believe that the best specimens were those with more zeros ... I would say that many of the collectors who have arrived in recent years to this hobby have learned a lot in a short time and hopefully things can go back to a kind of rationality, rationality that sometime before seems to have been lost.

The hobby is solid, there are many collectors who are happy with their collections and will continue with them enthusiastically, which in my opinion guarantees a good future for the hobby. What may slowly disappear are those pieces with a real value of about two or three zeros priced in five or six zeros.
I agree that exceptional pieces should cost big money, but what does not seem right is that some mediocrities could cost fortunes to satisfy “snob” collectors whose concept of "good" is simply that expensive = good.

With this last post I hope I compensate my limited participation in this thread during the fair due to a multitude of small problems that have been burdening me throughout the show. Again, thank you very much to Valere Berlage, Matt Zukowski, Jean Sendero... for their fine contributions throughout the Show, I hope that many more join this thread to provide their thoughts on this thread. Even if only short texts, all contributions add up to create a much more complete picture of what is and what means the "Tucson madness"

Other recommended threads for more information about Tucson 2013:

- The very broad, comprehensive and well done Gail Spann’s thread: 2013 Tucson Show Adventure ~ Gail Spann Style.
- The infos published by Jolyon in Mindat News
- The stories of the pioneer in this kind of chronicles, John Veevaert



2013 European correspondent of the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show™

[John S. White]

Some novelties that our fearless leader missed.

[John S. White]

More novelties missed by Jordi.

[Roger Warin]

Thank you for dreaming throughout Tucson Show.
Thank you for the various comments and also for the Jordi’s conclusion.
Roger.