FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Robert Seitz]

The April Show in Tucson was, as expected, a pale reflection. However, it was great to participate in a public mineral market again after 12+ months absence. There were a reasonable number of dealers, crowds were small, but people were buying, the weather was good, ...

I took some pictures of the markets, minerals and locality for sharing with those unable to participate.

Regards,

[Robert Seitz]

and now for some minerals -- rhodochrosite; and venues

[Robert Seitz]

more minerals and show scenes

[Bob Carnein]

Wow! Too many zeroes for my budget??

[Robert Seitz]

[Tobi]

[Robert Seitz]

Additional pictures - some smithsonite, cerussite, etc. Also, some general Tucson show pictures.

[Jesse Fisher]

As mentioned, the show was small and sparsely attended compared to usual, but the weather was good, tacos and cerveza plentiful, and there's always something to be found that remains within budget. So far, at least! This year it was a nice old fluorite on barite from Grube Clara. Ex Josef Clemente collection, his label indicated that he acquired it in 1983 from Christian Weise/Kristalldruse.

[Bob Harman]

RAS has some interesting photos and discussions.

I attended the 2020 Tucson show, but as a vaccinated over 65 yo health care professional never even thought about going out there for this "mini show". Perhaps the East Coast Show in August or the September Denver Show. For me any danger is not walking around outdoors in the April Tucson sunshine, it is the travel, eating out etc.

I would be interested in whether the dealers and customers were mostly local or regional or any actually travelled from afar. Also what were the ages of the dealers and customers and their vaccination status.

As to the photos, as RAS noted, the examples were specifically higher quality examples as they are more "eye candy" than looking at lower end examples.

One aspect that doesn't come up very often is the advancing age of large numbers of long time mineral collectors. Maybe I am wrong, but since I am now downsizing, then I suspect that many other older collectors are or will also begin to downsize in the near future. This might just mean a lot of collections/specimens of all types will be coming onto the mineral market within the next few years.
Numbers and age of new collectors vs age and numbers of long time collectors may be becoming very important.
Also what might be the types of specimens that the next generation of collectors will be interested in? I may be very wrong, but my sense is that the next generation of collectors will include larger numbers of financially well off professionals interested in larger hi quality aesthetic specimens and lesser numbers of geologist/mineralogists interested in smaller or rare mineral species.
Lots worthy of discussing. BOB

[Robert Seitz]

[alfredo]

There were numerous dealers from Russia, and Morocco, plus a scattering from other countries: England, India, Poland, Czech Republic, Bolivia, Mexico... But obviously far fewer than in normal years. Nobody (as far as I saw) came from Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan, China, Brazil - all countries that normally provide large contingents of sellers or buyers to Tucson. Those from countries whose citizens are not currently allowed to enter the USA as "tourists" because of covid rules found various loopholes, such as getting a business visa for "essential" business trips, or putting up with the awful trouble of 2 weeks quarantine on the beach in Cancun before flying on to the USA. ;))

As already mentioned, some buyers and sellers made getting the vaccine part of their reason for coming to Tucson, because here in Tucson the vaccine is readily available and the process of obtaining it is fast and efficient. I wore a mask everywhere, and most other people I saw were wearing masks too, although there were a minority of die-hard nincompoops and conspiracy theorists who either had no mask or wore it pulled down under their nose. Some locations adamantly refused entry to the unmasked, and in others the "poorly masked" were tolerated.

Plenty of young people shopping (if you consider 30s and late 20s to be young), so I have no worries about the future of the mineral business. I know many collectors have the impression that collectors as a whole are aging, but that is an illusion created by the lack of young people participating in traditional club activities. Younger collectors tend to communicate with each other on virtual platforms like Instagram, not in bricks-and-mortar clubs, which unfortunately is resulting in a disconnect between the generations, but that is happening across the board in most hobbies, not just mineral collecting.

[Roger Warin]

Hello,
There are specimens of great value.
Several criteria can determine the cost: aesthetics, crystallographic aspects, rarity, origin, etc.
In my opinion, one of the first qualities must be tenacity because the crystal must not be injured or broken at the first incident.

Sometimes it is necessary for legal reasons to estimate a specimen or even a collection. This may be of interest to the tax authorities.
How can we estimate the price of a specimen? And who can do it?
Can we honestly rely on the references cited above?
What is the correction factor? X ½, X 1/5, X 1/10 ???

How does the former owner of the mineral feel when he finds his old specimen like this on the Internet or in shows?

[Robert Seitz]

Minerals & local color shots...

[Tobi]

[Bob Morgan]

Robert, thank you for the reports. We miss Gail's reports, but you have filled in admirably. Great photo's when it's hard to take them in place. It's whetted my desire to get back to Tucson next year.