Tucson 2011 Report 2

O ne item a lot of people are chatting about here are yet another batch of Russian cuprite crystals with varying amounts of copper or silver present from the Rubtsovsk mine.  In some cases the cuprite is partially to nearly completely replaced by copper.  The crystals are still by and large quite dark which reflects their paragenesis with crystallization passing from tenorite to cuprite. Tenorite is a jet black, sooty looking oxide of copper while cuprite is, of course, the deep ruby red.  This is why these crystals look so dark and there is nothing that can be done to brighten them up to a rubier red color.  Still, they are impressive and several dealers have them here with crystals to 5 or 6 cm across and variations of everything from 1 cm to the larger crystals. Equally impressive are the prices being asked for the top pieces.  I have had these in the past and have decided to let the other eager dealers out there shoot barrels of cash at these... 

A 5-6 cm crystal offered by KARP for $14,900.

Two smaller crystals 3-4 cm across but still pricey in my opinion given the abundance of these at the show.

Another item to check back in on is the alabandite specimens which were first available at Munich this past fall.  Several dealers besides Teodocio Ramos and Luis Miguel had these this year including Jaroslav Hyrsl and Crystal Classics/Kristalle.  The quality is lower than what I saw in Munich and the prices for the best pieces are on par with what I saw in Munich.  There is a little bit more here than in Munich but anything that could be found was brought where as in Munich only better specimens were available.  The word is that they have gone through the alabandite bearing zone at the Ucchucchacua mine so this is likely the last hoorah for this remarkable find of this dull looking manganese species.  I did not make any attempt to purchase specimens of this available material.  I am sure that they will be readily available on the web with many other dealers though as I saw many of them out shopping for it. 

As you wander the show you see things that are remarkable and seldom if ever seen....

California dealer Rick Kennedy has this enormous 45+ cm Japanese Rhodochrosite available in his room.  

Ohio dealer Paul Corey showed me this museum grade specimen from the Davis Deardorff mine in Hardin County. Good fluorite on
quartz was rare from the area and this is considered one of the best around.  Paul says he will probably keep this one for that reason.

A close up of the above specimen displaying the color zoning.    

German dealer Gunnar Farber had something I had not seen or even heard of before - chrome lawsonite from Cape Marmari, Syros Island, Greece!  The crystals were formed in the schist host rock so the only way to reveal the crystals is to mechanically remove the encasing schist.  The crystals are naturally rounded (typical for crystals encased in schist) but the form is readily visible and they range in color from dark pine green to a lighter shade of pistachio green.  Lawsonite from California has been found as colorless, cream, light pink and blue colors. This green color is new to me.

A specimen with chrome lawsonite to 1.3 cm across.    

I also found a stunning chunk of Brazil with Marshall Sussman. It is a large cabinet specimen of rhodochrosite from Conselheiro Lafaiete, Minas Gerais.  This is one of the best from this locality I have seen.

A  12 x 8 cm specimen with feathery rose pink crystal groups distributed around the specimen.

A  close up displaying the crystals.

One of the great things about Tucson is the enormous opportunities that can happen in parking lots.  A contact who will remain nameless for now, opened his trunk and there was a flat of a new find of salmon orange colored childrenite associated with topaz, quartz and albite var. cleavelandite from Shigar Valley, Baltistan, Pakistan.  The childrenite crystals range in size from a few mm to over 1 cm in length.  The topaz ranges in color from a light imperial tone to colorless to a light shade of blue. I had not seen topaz of a light blue shade from this region before. 

A 12 cm specimen of light blue topaz crystals with albite and scattered orange childrenite crystals.

Two views of the same specimen with topaz of a light imperial tone. Quartz and albite comprise the rest of the matrix.

This is an 8.5 cm gem crystal of violet hued kunzite found December 2010.

This is a 7.5 cm gem crystal of blue to green hued kunzite found December 2010

The sunset on January 31, 2011 in Tucson.

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