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The Tucson Gem and Mineral Show® is the most important event of all the mineral and gem shows that take place in Tucson each February. Aside from the outstanding display exhibits, the dealers that fill up the show floor with their mineral and gemstone wares are the real driving force of the show. Almost all the prestigious mineral dealers have a booth, and for many this the place where they introduce new finds.

As in previous years, I scouted the show floor looking for new and interesting material to photograph for this show report. There was plenty to be found, and these are shared in this and the next two posts, accompanied by pictures.

I started my dealer circuit with Cornerstone Minerals, in the far left corner of the show floor. They had some brand new finds of clear Quartz crystals included with bright yellow amphibole, from Boyaca, Colombia, which at the time of the show had not been fully analyzed with an exact mineral identity other than being an amphibole species. These specimens were highly aesthetic and unlike any other types of Quartz with inclusions seen previously. On the topic of Quartz inclusions, Rusty James of Throwin' Stones had some really interesting Stibnite inclusions frozen in clear Quartz from Ganesh Himal in the Himalayan Mountains in Nepal. They looked very much like Tourmalinated Quartz, but with metallic-lustered Stibnite instead of Tourmaline.

Joe Dorris of Pinnacle 5 Minerals had a huge cluster of Microcline var. Amazonite in Smoky Quartz, from the Smoky Hawk Claim in Florissant, Colorado, which took up an entire shelf in his display case. The plaque next to this gargantuan cluster stated that this is the first showing of the second largest specimen from the Icon Pocket. This hunk of crystals was discovered in 2012 and filmed in the Prospector's TV series, and the repair project of joining all the broken crystals from the pocket was completed in 2018.

The relatively new find of yellow Brucite from Khuzadar District in Baluchistan, Pakistan, has been flooding the market, and many dealers at the show featured this flashy material. However, Fine Art Minerals stood out with some of the largest and brightest Brucite specimens from this new find. Fine Art Minerals also featured a giant white Hambergite crystal, the biggest by far that I have ever seen. It was elongated with parallel fibers, resembling the large Gypsum Var. Selenite wands from Morocco. There was one additional surprise from Fine Art Minerals: Interconnected Elbaite Tourmaline crystals with a very faint pink color from the Skardu District in Pakistan. These Tourmalines are very soft-toned and delicate looking, but at the same time highly aesthetic.

Over to Crystal Classics, from their native United Kingdom were some new Fluorites from Weardale, from both the Rogerley Mine and the Diana Maria Mine. Both these mines are part of the older Rogerly Quarry, a defunct 19th-century limestone mine. The Rogerley Mine has been commercially mined for Fluorite specimens since the 1990's, producing exceptional green Fluorite cubes that turn blue in sunlight from natural fluorescence. Ian Bruce, owner at Crystal Classics, took over specimen mining in 2017, and had lots of nice Fluorites from that locality at his Crystal Classics booth. Many of the Rogerley Mine specimens were labelled as being from the Wolfie Pocket. Nearby, in the western extension of the defunct Rogerley Quarry, another vein of Fluorite was further exploited for specimens by Crystal Classics, producing Fluorite similar to the Rogerly Mine material, but with a slightly darker color as well as some purple examples. Ian named this find in honor of his wife, calling it the Diana Maria Mine. Crystal Classics featured some of the newly mined finds from the Diana Maria Mine at this show.

At the corner of Stonetrust's booth stood a huge, attention-grabbing Stibnite crystal cluster several feet tall. This iconic specimen was from the Xikuangshan Antimony Deposit in Shaoyang Co., Hunan Province, China, and was one of the most memorable minerals of the show.

A new and interesting mineral combination at the Arkenstone booth was botryoidal bronze Goethite with Malachite. The unique bronze color of the Goethite, combined with the contrasting green of the Malachite, made for a remarkably aesthetic mineral. These specimens were from an unspecified location in Northern Laos.