Updated February 11, 2010

This is final update for the 2010 Tucson Show

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Specimens from this show will be shipped after February 18th.
 

Thanks for your interest!

 
 

	This link will take you to the specimens listed from $2500 and Up. This category will be updated regularly!
	This link will take you to the specimens listed from $1000 to $2500.   This category will be updated regularly!
	This link will take you to specimens listed from $500 to $1000.  This category will be updated regularly!
Olmiite	February 14th  New Olmiite from South Africa -  South African dealer and diggerPaul Balayer has been working the N'Chwaning II mine for specimens of olmiite for the past several years as well as other minerals.  Paul's olmiites are much different that those that have been available in the past.  His latest find, from October, has individual crystals instead of the more commonly seen round ball clusters or the aggregated crystals which make it hard to see just what the crystal form is.  he had just a few flats of material available and several pieces were sold to other dealers as well as myself.  I ended up purchasing a flat of the miniature to small cabinet specimens.  The olmiite exhibits a strong color change going from dull brown in sunlight to bright fleshy pink color in indoor lighting.  The luster on them is exceptional!
Gem Sodalite   Mn-Wurtzite & Sodalite	February 14th  New Gem Sodalite from Afghanistan -  These first appeared on the market at the 2009 Munich Show.  I was hopeful that I would see some of these here in Tucson and ... I saw specimens of these with several dealers around Tucson and in all cases the prices were startling (in the $1,000) to say the least!  That is until I saw specimens offered by Dudley Blauwet of Mountain Minerals.  It is always a bit restorative of the soul to see new and interesting material priced by a sane man (Let me tell you there is plenty of fantasyland pricing going on here in Tucson!!).  Dudley had a few of the exceptional pieces in the $2k + range but he had many in the $250 to $1,000 range available too.  The crystals from this new find are typically around 5 mm across with some variation up and down from that dimension but not much. Also found is what will likely turn out to be a new species of bright pumpkin orange manganese rich wurtzite. Wurtzite is a polymorph with sphalerite of ZnS2.  Crystallization is typically poor but some small crystals were found and Dudley had them. Now I do.
Wulfenite	February 14th  NEW FIND! Wulfenite from Pakistan -  Leave it to Dudley Blauwet to come up with the unusual! A new find of wulfenite from Pakistan ! The locality is very near to where the brookite specimens were found several years ago.  The crystals are bright lemon yellow and range in size up to just under 1 cm across. Dudley had only one flat of - about 12 pieces and I selected what were his obvious best four. One can never tell what will emerge from places like Pakistan - especially under these current political conditions but I would not hold my breath in anticipation of seeing more of these any time soon.
Anatase from Pakistan	February 14th  Mixed Specimens from the Tucson Show -  Here's the fourth and final wave of new specimens from the 2010 Tucson Show
Ettringite	February 14th  Ettringite from South Africa -  Paul Balayer has started to help with the de-acession of minerals from the Desmond Sacco Collection.  Don't get high blood pressure here.  Desmond is releasing specimens that are nowhere near the top tier level of his collection.  They are specimens of good quality and difficult to come by these days but the best will be staying put I am told. Paul had a small hoard of very fine ettringite specimens with him. Ettringite, charlestonite and sturmanite all form together and in the same crystals usually as phases change during crystallization but, like so many things in the mineral world, you have to call it something and these bright yellow crystals have always been referred to as ettringite.  I have a couple of other pieces in here that are different including a shigaite, amethyst and pseudomorph of oyelite after olmiite.
Grossular   Blue Calcite   Blue Spinel	February 11th  One last Round from Campbell Bridges -If you recall a few years ago Tucson 2007 Scott Werschky (Miner's Lunchbox) had bought a large lot of some interesting material from Campbell Bridges of grossulars, blue spinels, diopside and blue calcite with or without albite associations. The material comes from the Kajiado District, Rift Valley Province, Kenya. It turned out at the time that a large percentage of the specimens were glue jobs. Scott took the material back and earlier this year decided to see which were real and which were fakes by soaking the whole lot in acetone for several days. Five flats of material was reduced to two by doing this. Then, in a twist of fate, Campbell Bridges, the discoverer of tsavorite, was brutally murdered this past August in Kenya.
Gold	February 11th  Gold from Nevada -   Reno, Nevada dealer Alan Day is operating the Olinghouse mine for Gold specimens and melt.  We should be able to see nice pieces of this material available for at least the 5-7 years.
Eosphorite & Guimaraesite	February 11th  Rare mineral Guimaraesite from Brazil -   One of the dealers I always look forward to visiting early is Luiz Menezes.  A few years ago at the Munich Show Luiz had some specimens of the rare phosphate guimaraesite available.  The spherical crystalline masses of that find were hard to distinguish from the similarly colored matrix.  He has a new find of this species on albite from the Taquaral Seco mine, Itinga, Minas Gerais, Brazil.  It is also associated with eosphorite/childrenite. The guimaraesite (Ca2(Zn,Mg,Fe)5Be4(PO4)6(OH)4) in this find is also a bit different as the masses are zoned changing from zanazziite to greifensteinite to guimaraesite.  But unlike most rare minerals this one is rather attractive.
Herderite on Tourmaline	February 11th  More Brazilian minerals -  These are some odd sorts found with several dealers around town here the past 3 weeks.  A real mixed bag here.
Cerussite & Malachite on Pyromorphite from Australia	February 11th  Mixed Specimens from the Tucson Show -  Here's the third wave of new specimens from the 2010 Tucson Show
Scorodite	February 3rd  Scorodite from China -  When I first got here to Tucson my first stop was at Marshall Sussman's home where deals an incredible amount of mineral specimens. Here's the second wave of new specimens from the 2010 Tucson
Mn Adamite from Mexico Fluorite from Illinois	February 2nd  Mixed Specimens from the Tucson Show -  Here's the second wave of new specimens from the 2010 Tucson Show
Dioptase from Namibia	February 2nd  - New Find Dioptase from Namibia - The first person I saw was Marshall Sussman.  Marshall,  a retired fabric dealer from Chicago, now lives here in the Tucson area with his wife Charlotte. He is a magnet for new minerals coming to Tucson.  Marshall had specimens from a new find of dioptase made at the Omaue Mine, Kaokoveld, Namibia.  These first appeared at the 2009 Munich Show.
Fluorite from Peru	February 2nd  Fluorite from Peru -   Three dealers at the Hotel Tucson had specimens from this new find in Mundo Nuevo, La Libertad Dept., Peru.  Luis Miguel Burillo, Ramos Minerals and Jaroslav Hyrsl.  I missed on the first two but was there for Jaroslav's opening.  I was able to get his best pieces all free of damage and all with interesting associations of hubnerite, quartz and, in a couple of cases, scheelite.
Vesuvianite & Grossular	February 2nd  Pink Grossular from Mexico -  Dennis Beals (Xtal) was busy this past fall down in Mexico.  He had large selection of the raspberry color grossulars from Sierra de Cruces, Coahuilla, Mexico.  These have been known for about 15 years but no new specimens have made it to the market for at least 10 years.   A few specimens had a nice association with vesuvianite.
Vesuvianite & Grossular	February 2nd  - New Find Coquimbite from Peru - Czech Republic dealer Jaroslav Hyrsl brought specimens of a new find of coquimbite to the show.  Jaroslav, who holds a PhD in mineralogy spends copius amount of time in Peru researching mineral deposits.  He was approached by some miners who thought that they had found apatite crystals.  Jaroslav recognized immediately that they had found some remarkable specimens of coquimbite - a hydrated iron sulfate.  Jaroslav places specimens from this find as the finest known for the species.  The first concern, of course, is the stability of these specimens.  Several people familiar with the deposit including Alfredo Petrov have indicated that these are quite stable.  I did an experiment with one during the rains here recently and left it outside under the covered patio.  No change depsite 100% humidty all night long here...
Fluorite stalactite   Babingtonite	February 2nd   Chinese minerals -  I found a dealer here with some very nice, though colorless, stalactites of fluorite fromthe Li Jiang Mine, Yunnan Prov., China.
Wulfenite from Mexico Torbernite from the DR Congo	January 23rd  Mixed Specimens from the Tucson Show -  Here's the very first wave of new specimens from the 2010 Tucson Show.
Cuprite	January 23rd  Cuprite from Mexico -  I found these over the past couple days .  Very bright red cuprite in reflected room lighting.