FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Jordi Fabre]

Welcome to the Tucson Show 2020 celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Mineralogical Record magazine!🎈🎂⚒


More to come...
European correspondent of the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show®

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[Linda Smith]

Hope to see you.

[James Catmur]

Hope to hear more as the show progresses

[Gail]

[Tobi]

All who are not there are eagerly awaiting the annual Gail Report ...!!!

:-)

[Joseph DOliveira]

The end of on era as the past Executive Inn & Suites, now the Fortuna Inn & suites is being torn down. Once the hub of the Tucson show for many of us, the hotel has slowly deteriorated as the vendors moved on to other more suitable localities.

[bob kerr]

Yesterday was what some consider as the start of "Tucson Shows" - The Arizona Sonora Desert Museum holds it annual "Mineral Madness - early preview" for members of the Tucson Gem and Mineral Society. This year was special as the first wave of two major collections that were donated to the museum were put out for sale and the quality was very good indeed. I was able to pick up a terrific Dalnegorst Quartz for $18 - see photo. All proceeds went to the museum.

However, the highlight of the evening was when someone inside yelled out - WOW! look outside. It had been cloudy and rainy all day so no one expected much of a sunset but the photos below show what we all were treated to.

I plan on again posting periodic reports - hope you all enjoy them.

bob

[Jordi Fabre]

[Jordi Fabre]

Barcelona 18/01/2019

Curiously, one of the biggest novelties of Tucson 2020 will be Tucson 2021!

We have seen in the images of Joseph d'Oliveira the decline of the Executive Inn Hotel, which was for many years the most important Hotel in Tucson, and in 2020 we will see the end of its successor, the HTCC Hotel that on 2021 ends because the Arizona Mineral & Fossil Show leaves it and moves in block to the Hotel El Conquistador and this will produce a 180º change in the entire structure of the whole Fair.

The Westward Look and the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show® (Main Show) will remain unchanged but the so-called "Satellite Shows" will have to be re-organized.
Will be the Oracle street the new heart of the Show with The Mineral City Show in front or will El Conquistador take that heart of the Fair to the North and the axis El Conquistador-Westward Look will be decisive in the future?

Chi lo sa? the life is change


More to come...
European correspondent of the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show®

[Don Lum]

[John S. White]

Who is the "US" that we are asked to join?

[bob kerr]

[rweaver]

Some of us can remember when the old Desert Inn was the place to go for minerals other then the main show. And there where fewer other hotels that had minerals worth going to. I miss those days.

[Arizona Show]

Hi John: The "us" in the invite is from me.....Laura L. Delano, President, of LLD Productions, Inc., d/b/a Arizona Mineral & Fossil Show and its hard working staff: Vic Rzonca, Rose Zinn, Marty Zinn, Brent Delano, Gretchen Berrie, Kevin Karmorsky and Joe Holbrook

Hope you will join us for the tour! It is a gorgeous venue! Relaxing, GREEN, pools (5), mountains, golf courses and lots and lots of selling spaces; ballrooms, meeting rooms, selling rooms and sleeping rooms for guest to get away from the dust, the dirt, the noise, the parking problems.....

[John S. White]

Hi Laura:

Would love to join you but I don't get to Tucson until Feb. 1. Very sorry.

John

[Bob Harman]

I am planning to spend about 9 - 10 days in Tucson. This will be my sixth time in the past 15 years. But, as I am getting on in years, this will most likely be my swan-song trip to Tucson.

So, I am doing an entirely informal and non-scientific poll as to who might NOT be coming to Tucson this year. I am trying to ascertain the changing attendance patterns from the attendees of the past 25 or so years.
As an addendum, I'll venture a guess that some of the older attendees come primarily for socializing rather than to buy and might just be downsizing (or planning to downsize) their personal collections.

Specifically, I am ONLY interested in those NOT coming this year for the first or second year after coming regularly for some years before that. And, I am only interested in those NOT coming primarily because of advancing age.

I am NOT interested in those NOT coming because of other conflicts, loss of interest, finances, not being a dealer, or those NOT coming who also haven't come in several years or longer.

Please only respond if you have come within the past year or two, but will NOT be coming this year primarily because of your advancing age with increasing difficulty of travel.

Maybe no responses so, thanks for any replies! BOB

[rweaver]

[bob kerr]

As I've posted many times in the past, the "Tucson Show" starts for me when Adam Wright of the Adelaide Mine in Tasmania arrives with his new crocoite shipment.

For this season, there's were some interesting new items and quite a few of the "usual" great crocoites. The photos below show what Adam calls "The Mohawk" - lots and lots of lustrous orange/red needles with black manganese oxides mixed in on a "flattish" matrix. A really nice piece safely housed in an acrylic container.

Adam also had a few black crocoites - more likely, manganese oxides after crocoite - one photo attached.

After visiting Adam, I toured around what is becoming the main mineral focus area - in and around Top Gem/Sun Gem/La Fuente/Mineral City on Oracle Road. Some dealers were actually open or soon to be open and there was a new "Matrix India" tent put up just behind La Fuente. See photos.

Much more to come.
bob

[bob kerr]

Spent some time in and around the Top Gem area and the HTCC today. Very few dealers are open yet but there is lots of setup activity and a number of dealers plan to open tomorrow and certainly by the weekend. The vendors at the Top Gem annex, Sun Gem and Mineral City are not associated with any promoter or show so they can open their private rooms whenever they wish.

Also of note - to quote the Monty Python movie Holy Grail - "I'm not dead yet!" - and that appears to be the situation at the HTCC. It looks like the owner will be holding his own show at the hotel. See attachment. Last year lots of dealers had major complaints about HTCC condition, parking and potholes - but there were also lots of complaints about moving 12 miles north to the Conquistador not to mention the price (motel room and show fee).

Anyway, I am sure we will hear more about this.

bob

[Bob Harman]

Bob Kerr's last sentence or two is food for thought for another thread. "Consider the economics of being a dealer at the Tucson show".

For high end dealers from Europe, for example, it means travel, about 2 weeks of lodging, food, and shipping (both to and from Tucson) several hundred fragile hi end specimens for sale.
For lower end dealers it means sales, sales ,and more sales to meet their expenses. All worthy of consideration prior to committing to being a dealer out there. Bob