OK, so it is NOT so recent now!! Better late than never. While in Tucson, in February I tried to capture some images of some of the fine specimens that I saw, for the viewing enjoyment of people that did not attend. There are some mouth-watering specimens here!! I hope that you enjoy them!
The theme of the 2007 Tucson Show was "Minerals of Australia". There were some dandies on display in the Main Show. There were LOTS of great Australian minerals on display but I'm kind of partial to the elements. Here is a sampling.
Aquamarine, Pakistan
This aquamarine had to be one of the best specimens at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show this year. It was in a display cabinet in the main show and constantly drew people near to ogle it. It is about 25cm across!! I'm no a very good reporter as I did not write down the owner of the exhibit but I believe that it was the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences. I'm sure it will be in the Mineralogical Record or other magazines, though!
Bryan Lees of Colorado put in a display of just minerals from Colorado. Every specimen was a masterpiece!
Here is a picture of the Colorado Nuggets booth, with proprietors Bev and Steve Rice. They always have beautiful gold specimens!
There was a beautiful display of wonderful crystallized golds in the centre of the show. Sorry, I do not know the owner.
Here was a display of silver awesome silver specimens at the Kristalle booth. You could buy these!
Well, as you know, I'm not a big gem crystal fan but I thought that these were pretty impressive. From Keith Proctor display.
This was one of the best gold specimens at the Tucson Show, as far as I was concerenced. About 14cm high. From Keith Proctor's display.
This was an odd one. A silver nugget found in Arizona with a metal detector. It DOES kind of look like a dog!
I'm a sucker for well crystallized native copper. Here is a nice one from, I believe, Broken Hill Mine. Smithsonian collection.
Another great copper specimen from Australia!
What Autralian-themed event would be complete without lots of crocoite. That beautiful mineral was plentiful at Tucson, this year.
A wonderfully shaped Australian gold nugget from a private collection.
Opal jewellry is laright but I'm kind of partial to opalized fossils like these.
Another mineral (is it really a mineral?) that I think of when I think of Australia is opal. This type of jewelry was in abundance at Tucson, this year.
