The Tucson Shows continue through Sunday, February 15th
|
Mineral Garden A New 2026 Venue for fine minerals in Tucson
405 N Granada Avenue Set in a charming collection of historic cottages that have been very recently renovated as showcases, this venue has attracted very very high end mineral dealers, and what a site to see! Many of the cottages are not yet open (or are open only by appointment) but we had the chance to roam through approximately six of the showcase cottages, and the minerals on display rival any that you would see in a world-class mineral museum. What fun to browse and enjoy. To a one, the dealers were welcoming and approachable -- happy that even small-time collectors like us were enjoying themselves. These cottages were once "motor hotel" units we were told, which is not surprising when one sees the courtyard between the units and imagines that was parking for each unit. The Tucson City Center Hotel (formerly the Inn Suites and now "affordable apartments") is due west of this show. It was where Marty Zinn hosted his biggest gem and mineral show for many years. The dealers from that motel are now mainly down the street at Mineral City but the really high end fine mineral dealers - some of whom have specimens priced north of $200,000 or "please request price"!) are moving to fun new locations like this one. It is a bit like visiting the National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian) and the American Museum of Natural History to see the finest of the finest - especially specimens which are too large for the average collector to store and display. What pure pleasure to have the opportunity to see these offerings in such an intimate classy venue. One dealer with whom we spoke referred to it as a bit more civilized than some of the crowded venues. Well said ... 
|
Beth and Courtyard palm tree in reflection :)
Many (most) dealers did not invite photos, so we have sadly only a few of these cases to show
|
Attractive new landscaping in process
|
Miner's Coop
Mike Jacobs Sports Complex We are told that this show got underway in 2012 (which is true we're sure but still hard to believe!) and that it tries to select applicant vendors who fit the mold of "Doers and Diggers." They pride themselves on attracting vendors who are closely connected to what they sell, which we all know is no longer the norm at rock shows. There is a lot of variety here from what they call their collaboration of families, friends, dogs, old timers and new timers. While we "struck out" this year, we have in the past found some good petrified wood and plant fossils here. |
|
|
|
|
Mineral and Fossil Co-op
1635 N Oracle Rd Some spectacular fossils here including the amazing petrified woods of Ralph Thompson. It also has Sahara Seas, a good place to look for slices from Madagascar. This venue is at least 35 to 40 years old and has been the prime example of permanent venues (versus hotel venues) that now are coming more and more to dominate the Tucson experience. |
|
|
|
|
|
22nd Street Show
22nd and I-10 Not a lot of collector-quality petrified wood here but there are still opportunities to find specimens among some of the polished decorator pieces at some dealers. There are also some fossil dealers here that occasionally have leaf fossils, cones, or other botanical materials that can be of interest so we continue to visit the show every year hoping to find those jewels among the huge inventories of rock related items. |
This show wins the prize for the most colorful food truck!
|
|
|
|
|
Tucson Gem and Mineral Show
Tucson Gem and Mineral Society Convention Center, Downtown Tucson This is the largest, oldest and most prestigious gem and mineral show in the world. The Tucson Gem and Mineral Show® has enjoyed international stature since the 1970s, and was the first gem and mineral show to bring the hobby enthusiast, the public, and the curator/professionals together for discovery and discussion. It is the reason that so many worldwide dealers started coming to Tucson to sell at the "preliminary" venues. At four days in length, held in the Tucson Convention Center, it features seminars, junior hands-on experiences, and a myriad of exhibits from major museums all over the US and from other countries. There are special displays from private and museum collections that feature specimens of such value that the Show hires off-duty Tucson police officers to stand guard near them during the show's opening hours. It also has over 400 dealers on the floor of the convention center - many of whom have already been selling at various wholesale shows around town but now bring their gems, minerals, fossils, finished jewelry, mining artifacts, and related materials to this mainly retail venue. The show organizers get several government agencies like the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to provide booths that inform collectors of rules and regulations for collecting on Federal lands. MinDat has a booth as well as the Tucson Gem and Mineral Club itself. Opening day on February 12 saw BIG crowds and Friday brings school groups by the bus load. In short, Anything, Everything and Anyone associated with our collecting passion is there to celebrate. It is another year of new discoveries, another year of careful curation of old discoveries, another year of some collectors getting older while some young people become collectors, another year of old friends meeting up for their once-a-year visit with each other to discuss rocks, and another year of simply basking in the glory of the beauty of gemstones, minerals, fossils. And today the finale show began its four-day run. What a celebration indeed. |
Most of us in this hobby share the heartfelt sentiments in the journal!
|
This case had some of the most fascinating shapes in minerals
Opalized wood specimens from Virgin Valley
Al and Sue Liebetrau honored in the Presmyk display. Their collection will live on via the collectors who were lucky enough to acquire their specimens.
One Huge Quartz
|
One of the few great pieces of petrified wood in all of the exhibits
As you can imagine, we kept looking for wood, and here was a case full of Arizona specimens
How fun is this? Lego sets available online. These are amazing!
Well, these people had obviously procured some wood at the previous shows -- and came early to the Convention Center with their truck + trailer which required FIVE coveted parking spaces!
|
That's a wrap for us from Tucson 2026. We hope to see you on our website and on eBay and in our emails in the coming days.
Thank you for coming along on the Tucson adventure. It's been a lot of fun to share it with you.
PS -- as far as we know, no one took this seller up on their offer to buy this sweet little homemade trailer with the broken limb supports ...
Thank you for coming along on the Tucson adventure. It's been a lot of fun to share it with you.
PS -- as far as we know, no one took this seller up on their offer to buy this sweet little homemade trailer with the broken limb supports ...
