FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[bob kerr]

Greetings to all FMFer's from the sunny confines of Tucson AZ. Last weekend was the Flagg Museum mineral show in Mesa, AZ (a wonderful true tailgate, outdoor event) and today two of the traditional early birds arrived and unpacked their new finds for this year's Tucson shows - Adam Wright with Adelaide Mine crocoites and Clive Queit with African minerals.

Adam dug out three pockets with lustrous, colorful and fully terminated crystals that approximated the surprise pocket material from last year. here's a few photos of the better pieces. impressive as usual.

Clive arrived with his usual hoard of quartzes, malachites and Erongo specialties but the special find this year was excellent dioptases from the Democratic Republic of the Congo - in all sizes and some on beds of malachite. These were quite reminiscent of the famous Tsumeb dioptases but a bit darker in color and less gemmy - but still the best new material I've seen in years. Some photos attached.

Two other newcomers in Clive's room were "Schorlized" Quartz (quartz with Schorl (spray) inclusions) from Erongo and nice Libethenite on beds of chrysocolla also from the DRC.

Very few other dealers are open, but many have arrived and are in the process of waiting for their shipment to arrive or setting up.

Stay tuned for more and here's hoping for a great show.

bob

[Jordi Fabre]

👏👏👏👏

[bob kerr]

I've visited the Mineral City area a few times in the last week but it's way too early for much action. The vast majority of dealers simply haven't arrived yet and the ones who are here are in the set-up process and/or waiting for their deliveries to arrive. A few observations:
- The Min City model is for dealers to rent their "rooms" annually such that they can store display cases, unsold minerals, flats, etc. for the "off season". Quite a few of the rooms that are in the setup mode are first going through a "clean-out" mode as their rooms were used as attics, garages or basements - when in doubt throw whatever into the room and worry about it later.
- The new building known as "The Vault" (directly south of Min City Building A) is coming together and it will be a challenge to get it fully functional by "start time" - but the owner should be able to get a "temp occupancy permit" so things should be able to proceed. the new rooms have a second floor - see photos.
- We just had 2 1/2 days straight of rain - an incredibly rare occurrence for the desert. The "Rivers" (washes) are running, and a number of swift water rescues had to occur for the numerous homeless folks camping in the washes.
- The rain has been replaced by a cold snap which for Tucson means low temps in the upper 20's/lower 30's DegF and high temps in the 50's DegF. (-1 to 13 DegC). But the sun has been out in the afternoons and it's pleasant then.
- Top Gem is resurrecting the Mexican luncheon for their "soft opening" on the 25th. a great tradition being brought back. The consider it a "soft" opening because they are now open all year around, but they've not put anything new out for the last 4 weeks or so.

stay tuned for more.
bob

[Bruce Friedman]

Bob, I always look forward to your show reports and really appreciate your insight!! See you next week in Tucson.

[Joseph DOliveira]

Some of the dealers have opened early at the show, this particular one had a nice selection of Vivianite and Ludlamite specimens from Brazil.

[bob kerr]

Walked around Min City today and very few rooms are yet open - quite a few are in setup.
still too early for much "What's New" action. However, Wendy and Jun Zhou of Wendy's Minerals were open with some new items.

Wendy showed me an interesting botryoidal fluorite from an unspecified locality. Interesting form and color - see photos.

Last year they had a number of very large and expensive specimens of gemmy fluorite associated with tall white quartz points from Huanggang - they were back-lit and simply stunning. This year they featured smaller versions of these pieces and priced for the more average collector. I wonder how long these will be available.

Finally, there were a number of tabular "sandwich" calcite from Fujian that fluoresced red under UV. Interesting form.

more to follow,
bob

[bob kerr]

More dealers are opening every day. Today I visited Crystal Springs, and they were displaying a large quantity (and quality) of vivianite from Brazil. As is usual with vivianite, you only rent them (a Rock Currier quote) but these are gemmy, lustrous and very green.

I then went over to the room of Mexican Minerals and they were displaying a large quantitly of Zincolivinite from the Milpillas Mine which - contrary to previous reports - is still producing - rumor has it for the next two years. These are dark green - similar to the famous brochantites from the mine. As a big fan of Milpillas, I hope more specimens of all the world class minerals that the mine produced continues.

much more to follow,
bob

[bob kerr]

Lots more dealers are now open - and lots more to go.

Visited The Little Big Stone dealership of Frederick Gauthier - if you recall last year his shipment was seriously delayed but this year things worked out and some interesting items were in the shipment. Lots have been sold already but there's still lots to go around.

Besides the incredible Madagascar quartzes, he had a few remaining reticulated rutiles that are quite attractive.

best to see the photos

bob

[bob kerr]

Next was the Russian dealership of Marius Rudnev who had more of those incredible Russian "pseudo cubic" golds and silvers (and some coppers added in).

These bring to mind the Bulgarian skeletal galenas - but these golds and silvers are few and far between.

see photos.

bob

[bob kerr]

Hemant Merchant can always be depended on to provide new and unique Indian minerals - this year is no exception.

He had a handful of "loop fluorites" available (a connected string of botryoidal fluorites) and also a "red apophyllite in apophyllite". the was only one of these red apophyllites but he promised more are in the works - probably for next year's show.

bob

[bob kerr]

Valenzuela's Minerals provides "Milpillas Eye Candy" in their room (Electric Blue Azurites) and some new Milpillas material - specifically lustrous botryoidal malachite.

Enjoy,
bob


.

[minsur]

[Jordi Fabre]

[alfredo]

On line discussions of fluorite "loops" came to the conclusion that they are carvings made from the fluorite hemispheres that occur in India. Easy enough to do nowadays with the air abrasive glass bead blasters, just like those galena "frames" from Bulgaria.

[bob kerr]

Good comments on the authenticity of the Russian silvers - they are "too unique" to be real.

How about the golds and coppers though? are they guilty by association? the octahedral gold forms seem authentic, and the copper "brains" (similar to the Michigan examples) seem real also.

I asked Helmut about the authenticity of the "loop" fluorites and he promised that they are indeed real. I've known Helmut for many years, and he has always railed against the numerous manufactured specimens from India - especially any stalagmites. However, even honest dealers can be fooled.

Alfredo - could you please provide a link to the discussion about these that you mentioned. I could not find anything on mindat.

Caveat Emptor is indeed appropriate here.
bob

[Amir Akhavan]

I'm surprised fluorite fake loops are still sold.

https://www.mindat.org/mesg-563562.html

[alfredo]

Let's note too that Nature has no method for making loops of spheres like that. Spherules, whether their internal structure is radiating or concentric, start growing from a point in the center. How would all those little central seed points remain suspended in a loop formation before they grew big enough to contact each other?

[minsur]

[bob kerr]

I would like to request that the site monitors make two clarifications or corrections:

1 - Helmut Merchant (Mineral Decor) has added proper signage to those "loop fluorites" in his room. Even reputable dealers can be misled.

2 - The "rumor" of a second Milpillas Mine is wrong. What I wrote;
"there's a mini-Milpillas mine nearby that is producing great material but in limited quantities and lots of zeros in the price."
should be deleted.

many thanks,
bob

__________________________________________

Done

[bob kerr]

Spirifer Minerals have a case with two shelves of what - at first - look like quartz but are calcites. Location is given as Gunung Kerlang, Malaysia.

bob