Minerals.net

The InnSuites Show, officially known as the Arizona Mineral & Fossil Show, is organized every year by Martin Zinn Expositions LLC. The show is located in the Hotel Tucson City Center, and it is my favorite show after the main show in the convention center. The show is located on sprawling hotel grounds with hundreds of rooms, and almost all of the important dealers are present here selling out of their rooms. There are also ballrooms filled with dealers and tents in the outside parking areas. This show has a very laid-back environment, and a pleasant, friendly atmosphere.

This post brings forth show scenes at the InnSuites show, as well as mineral groups and lots.

Grounds of the InnSuites Hotel



Food Tent and People Lounging In the Open Areas



Large Crystals and Flyer Showing the New TV Series Mineral Explorers
Crystal Springs Mining & Jewelry (Thomas Nagin)
www.crystalspringsmining.com



Fossils and Books in the Fossil Hall
This area looks like a museum library



New Find of Hematite-stained red Quartz from Morocco, at Izizauen Alnif, near Tinejdad
Cornerstone Minerals (Greg Turner)
www.cornerstoneminerals.com



New Find of Dark Purple Fluorite from the Crystal Victory Mine, Hardin Co., IL
Allectoris Minerals (Rocko Rosenblatt and Kevin Downey)



Beautiful, Large Liddicoatite with Good Backlighting from Madagascar
Little Big Stone (Frederic Gautier)

The strip on the western side of the I-10 Freeway - from the Days Inn at Congress Street to the Clarion Inn at Starr Pass Road - is lined with hotels and tents with hundreds of dealers. There are minerals, gemstones, and jewelery being sold out of almost every hotel room and nook and cranny. It is fascinating to observe this scene, and a must for all Tucson show visitors to go and see. The enormous Brazilian crystals are especially fascinating.

Click on the images below for larger pictures.

The stretch of motels (Clarion Inn, Howard Johnson, Motel 6) with tents
along the Interstate 10 Freeway Corridor



Large South American Amethyst Geodes in a tent at the Clarion Inn.
La Genuina Amethysts, Artigas, Uruguay



Ted Smith of the Ace of Diamonds Herkimer Mine.
Ted Drives Down every Year from NY to sell some of his amazing Herkimer Diamonds.
www.herkimerdiamonds.com



Boxes of Large Herkimers in the Sunlight. These are all half price.
Ace of Diamonds Herkimer Mine (Ted Smith)
www.herkimerdiamonds.com



Huge Quartz Crystals in front one of the tents of the Brazilian Dealers.



Very large Aquamarine crystals in Quartz from Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
RM Gemas, Brazil (Robson X. da Costa)



On of the Fine Individual Aquamarine Crystals from the Above Lot



Tents of Brazilian dealers between the Clarion and Howard Johnson



Young Saguaro Cacti and Succulents Across the Street from the Shows

At this show, I also met show organizer Lowell Carhart to discuss details on the upcoming NY/NJ Show, as well as his new venture called the 22nd Street View. The View will be a new permanent fixture in Tucson for dealers to be able to have a year-round Tucson presence.

One of the nice perks of the 22nd Street show is the free parking. After visiting this show you can just walk across the freeway underpass to the other shows on the I-10 Corridor.

Click on the images below for larger pictures.

Large tent of the 22nd Street Show.
Note the deep blue sky, indicative of the great weather.



Sign outside the tent promoting the 22nd Street View, accompanied with Live Music



Nice Dinosaur fossil display at the show



Beautiful African Malachite, with some very large pieces!
African Arts and Minerals, Bellflower, CA



Beautiful Polished Opal with Play of Color from the Spencer Opal Mines in Idaho
Spencer Opal Mines (Claudia and A.J Couture)
www.spenceropalmines.com



New find of white botryoidal Quartz from Ouray, CO.
Miners Mall (Dennis Schneider & Tammey Holdbrook)
www.minersmall.com



New Colorado Turquoise from Cripple Creek, mined in 2014
Miners Mall (Dennis Schneider & Tammey Holdbrook)
www.minersmall.com



Beautiful gemmy 120 ct. Aquamarine from Mt. White, CO; one of the best pieces collected in 2014
The Lucky Miner, (Dwayne Hall - of the Prospectors TV Series)
TheLuckyMiner.com



Dwayne Hall of the Prospectors TV Series wearing a Minerals.net cap.
Dwayne collected the above Aquamarine



Peridot gemstone from Freemont County, Colorado.
This stone holds the record for Colorado's largest faceted Peridot at 4.81 cts.
Found by Travis Anderson (Prospectors) and cut by Carl Holzer.



Incredible Aquamarine from Mt. Antero, Colorado, collected in 2012.
Collected by Ron Griese; displayed at the booth of Travis Anderson of the Prospectors.
The larger stone is 5 3/8 inches!



Large lot of small, recently collected gemmy Peridot from Freemont County, CO
Travis Anderson, Prospectors



Large Slab of Oregon Sunstone in Volcanic Matrix
Oregon Sunstone Exchange (Josh the Terrible)
www.sunstoneexchange.com



The above Sunstone sliced in two showing the structure and texture.



Schiller Sunstone Rough in Water from the Oregon Sunstone Exchange



Video Explaining the Sunstone

You can view our February 2015 newsletter online. Please click the image below for the larger version.