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January 31 to Feb 2


There is always a little bit of news that unfolds as the days go by here in Tucson...

The Smuggler's Inn will not be on the show circuit next year.  The reason's I have heard vary considerably but the gist of it is that the dealers there this year will be somewhere else next year. And that somewhere else is the Quality Inn.  Another item of note was some initial commotion over what were alledged to be the largest and finest zinkenite crystals ever found from China.  They were at the Executive Inn.  Well, over I go the E.I. and it took one moment for me to recognize these "great" specimens as stibnite.  I asked the dealer and he said the specimens came from an active zinc mine so they are zinkenite.   Subsequent reputable authorities have confirmed this also to be the case - that they are stibnite.  Oh man, there is so much crap like this here in Tucson that it is enough to wonder why anyone believes anything anyone says sometimes. 

A word to the wise: If it looks too good to be true it almost always is.

The following are a few more items of note that I have managed to secure here

As I mentioned in the previous report French dealer Francois Lietard had some additional specimens of the rich green fluorite from the Erongo Mountains in Namibia - including several smaller specimens with an aquamarine association. 


This is a TN specimen with a 2.3 cm crystal of aqua and a 1 cm crystal of fluorite.
This specimen is sold already...

As is typical with Francois one only has to spend only a short time to see some very interesting minerals that he manages to find.  The one item that caught my eye were these new specimens of glassy apatite from Bonan, Warsek, NW Frontier Province in Pakistan.   The typical specimen is a light violet color and many are colorless.  Few were available on matrix - actually only one for $3,000.00.  I did see a few of them with actinolite inclusions which was quite interesting so I bagged a few of them.


These are two specimens of the new apatite I obtained from Francois.  The specimen on the left is 3.8 cm across 
and has numerous acicular crystals of actinolite included in it.  The 2.7 cm crystal on the right, which is nearly a 
floater, is a light violet color and has just minor inclusions of actinolite.


Francois also had a few other interesting items including a couple of specimens of quartz with adularia and igneous calcite from Alchuri, Balitistan, Pakistan. The calcite crystals are thin and tabular in form.


This is an 11 x 6 cm specimen of quartz with adularia and calcite crystals. The 
calcite crystals are both about 3 cm across and set at the top of the adularia.


I was received a phone call from Dudley Blauwet about a chance to see his new material from Pakistan prior to his setting up at the Main Show.  Dudley, if don't know him, is a most intrepid individual who regularly travels to places most of us here in the United States wouldn't dream - even in a nightmare - of going to.  He is also a religious runner and bicycler and is in remarkable condition.  He is fluent in arabic so these attributes suit him very well while traveling through the mountainous regions of Pakistan, Nepal and other south east Asian regions. Dudley has just completed a text for the Mineralogical Record on his recent trip to northern Vietnam in the area in Luc Yen where the tourmalines have been coming from.  He allowed me to have a draft copy and I assure you it is very interesting reading detailing the serendipitous nature of his trip there and travels on the back of a motor scooter across Vietnam. It should be published soon.

Anyway, Dudley had about 150 flats of material - much of it new - from his recent trip to Pakistan and wasted little time in opening each one up to see what he'd brought.  The following images will detail his new material.


This is a 6 cm specimen of amethyst from a new find with inclusions of either hematite 
or lepidocrocite from Seyt Village, Kundas Nala, Khapalu, Baltistan, Pakistan.
 


This is an 6 x 4.8 cm specimen with crystals of anatase to 0.6 cm across from Kharan, Baluchistan, Pakistan.
These are not new per se but the quality is very good and Dudley's prices are better than anyone else who has these.


This is an rather large lemon colored composite crystal of apatite that 7.5 cm from 
top to bottom. It is from Tormiq, Gilgit-Skardu Road, Northern Areas, Pakistan. This is a unique find.


This is a9 x 5 x 4.5 cm specimen of albite with schorl and a green crystal of fluorite from Baha, Braldu Valley, Baltistan, Pakistan.  The crystal is complete and has stepped cubic areas on the corners forming very crude octahedral faces.  Under SW UV light the crystal glows this eerie yellowish green and after removal of the light source the crystal phosphoresces for over 1 minute!  Very unusual for fluorite. 

As second trip to Luis Menezes' room is always worthwhile.  This year, Luis has a new find of the rare mineral ferro-tapiolite which is a polymorph with ferro-tantalite.  The crystals are jet black and exposed from albite/quartz matrix.  The crystals come from Parelhas, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.  I picked up five specimens in all of this new find and the picture below is typical of the specimens Luis had available. 


This specimen has a 1.3 cm crystal of ferro-tapiolite. 

No trip to Tucson or any other mineral show is complete with checking in with Alfredo Petrov.  This year Alfredo had a couple of large bismuthenite crystals - I was only able to get one - from Veta Farellon Viejo, Tazna, Potosi, Bolivia. Alfredo and several other dealers also participated in a risqué mineral "event" that was well publicized all over the area.  There were some interesting tales circulating around the shows the next day.... You won't read about them on these pages...


The front and back side of the same fully terminated 5.7 cm crystal of bismuthenite from Bolivia.

At the Clarion I looked over the material that Doug and Terry Wallace of Mineral Search had and was thrilled to see the last known specimens from the unique and very rare find of scordite from the Pingtouling mine in China.  Recall that Collectors Edge had these at the 2004 Denver Show.  Evidently, Doug managed to obtain these last specimens from Bryan Lees and had them here.  I have never seen any more of these at any other show since so it was with great haste that I said yes to these.  All of these have micro beudantite asscociations and/or arsenian siderite.  One of these lends itself to minor trimming and will provide several smaller specimens in the future but for now I will have three to post at this show.


This is an 8.5 x 6 cm specimen with a rich vug filled with lustrous scorodite crystals to 0.5 cm across. 

More to come from the 2006 Tucson Show.

Past Shows & Reports
PLEASE NOTE: The minerals that were offered on these pages are all sold
1999
Munich Show
2000
Sainte Marie Show
Munich Show
2001
Sainte Marie Show
Munich Show
2002
Tucson Show
Sainte Marie Show
Denver Show
Munich Show
2003
Tucson Show
Sainte Marie Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show
Munich Show
2004
Tucson Show
West Coast Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show
Munich Show
2005
Tucson Show
West Coast Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show
Munich Show
2006
Tucson Show
Bologna Show
Sainte Marie Show
East Coast Show
Munich Show
2007
Tucson Show
Dallas Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show
Munich Show
2008
Tucson Show
West Coast Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show
Munich Show
2009
Tucson Show
West Coast Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show
Munich Show

2010
Tucson Show
San Francisco Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show

Munich Show

2011
Tucson Show
San Francisco Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show
Munich Show

2012
Tucson Show
West Coast Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show 
Munich Show

2013
Tucson Show
Sainte Marie Show
Crystal Days (Poland)
Munich Show  

 

 
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