FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[crocoite]

Great Basin Minerals have been busy mining at the Rowley Mine over the past year and have produced lots of very attractive wulfenite and mimetite specimens. Many of these are thumbnails, some quite fragile, but very nice.

[Jordi Fabre]

One of the advantages which the fair Tucson is that is so long that some new find can appear within the Fair...

As explained in: https://www.mineral-forum.com/message-board/viewtopic.php?p=36968#36968 FABULOUS new Opal (var. Hyalite) have recently appeared somewhere in Central Mexico and its color/fluorescence in daylight is AMAZING. We apologize for so much admiration but honestly, they are extraordinary.

In fact they are so different than any other (just a little bit close to the Namibian ones) that we named it as "fosforito" Opal.
Fosforito name in Spanish language means: "hiper glow", so we believe it correspond well to these "fosforito" Opals ;-)

2014 European correspondent of the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show™

[John Cornish]

Hi Everyone!

Jordi asked that I add a bit to this ongoing report. Sadly, I won't be able to contribute much as I run my room solo and thus do not get the chance to range about as freely as others. Still, friends have visited and have shared some extraordinary specimens. Among these were a terrific, sharp 10 carat octahedron of green diamond; A flat of stellar Milpilias-like, bright and glorious miniatures of azurite from Laos; Several flats of rubellite from Russia, crystals up to 24cm in length with bright, lustrous terminations of a rich yummy cranberry-red color; Another large lot of newly mined tourmalines, this time from the Havey Quarry in Maine, crystals up to 10cm in length and all a spectacular vibrant gemmy green-blue color; and a score of other goodies... Man, oh man, I love Tucson, this magical Mecca where treasure is the talk of the town!

Of the rooms I've seen, I've thrilled to stellar crocoites, smoky and amazonite combo's and sadly, that's about it. I could wax poetic about my own room and its treasures, but that wouldn't be right (Thanks Matt for sharing the photos you took earlier in the show).

I hope your able to make the show, Westward Look finishes soon and then hot on its heels is the Main Show. I'll still be here at Inn Suites, stop by and say hello if you're about and most importantly, have a great show!

All the very best everyone, take care,

John

[Jordi Fabre]

Tucson 2014/02/10

One of the most impressive things happening in Tucson these days is to see the Master John S. White in action.

Here we can see his hectic activity, sometimes well sit in his easychair ;-)

2014 European correspondent of the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show™

[Jean Sendero]

A few pics of Mexican specimens that caught my at the Westward Look. Sure there were a lot more specimens of Mexican origin, azurite, cuprite, malachite from Milpillas as every where else, and some older specimens. But these are the cool ones that really got me.

[Jean Sendero]

One more from the Tucson City Centre Hotel

[Deb Roman]

Quartz aficionados will be interested in seeing the Japan law twins offered by Japanese dealer Takeda Kozo in the Tucson City Center (Inn Suites). These are from the namesake location of this Quartz form. First described by a German researcher in 1875, the term becoming commonplace by 1905 (though twins were known from other locations previously). Some of the specimens offered were collected 60 - 100 years ago, and have interesting pedigrees. It's not every day you get to see Japan law twins from Japan!

[Deb Roman]

One of the "novelties" seen today were these Azurite nodules, recently collected in the oxidation zone of the Rubtsovskiy Mine in Siberia, Russia. They are found loose in clay. Those that have nice Azurite crystal on the outside are sold as is. Those with rough, uncrystallized exteriors are sliced to reveal the Azurite within and polished. These were seen in the room of Mikhail Anosov (Russian Minerals Co.) in the Hotel City Center (Inn Suites).

[Deb Roman]

Sliced, polished Azurite nodules.

[Pierre Joubert]

The legrandite specimen is stunning and very well photographed. I also love the azurite 'geodes' from Russia. Thank you for showing us the photos.

[Jordi Fabre]

Tucson 2014/02/11

Tom Moore is the indefatigable correspondent of the Mineralogical Record magazine, he runs around Tucson every day and practically nothing escapes to his supervision. Thanks to him we know through his articles in MR and the online section What's New in the Mineral World which are the novelties in the world of minerals, from the smallest to the largest.

2014 European correspondent of the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show™

[Deb Roman]

Many dealers this year are offering specimens of attractive bright, brassy Chalcopyrite with lenticular brownish Siderite, from Bijie, Guizhou Province, China. But a few dealers (the one pictured below from the Karp dealer) had plates of Siderite alone. While most were the common form of lenitular xl to about 3 cm, some, like this one, showed an unusual habit, with very thin plates of Siderite, seemingly in parallel growth. They have a micaceous luster on some faces, giving the appearance of fish scales. I had never seen Siderite quite like it before.

[Jordi Fabre]

[Jordi Fabre]

Tucson 2014/02/11

Gail is back. Expect hundreds of photos in her thread: Tucson 2014 Show Report, Gail Spann Having Fun Again...! ;-)

2014 European correspondent of the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show™

[GneissWare]