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Much of the action of the Tucson mineral shows has shifted further north, to the neighborhood surrounding the Mineral City show. This area of Tucson on East Lester Street, near North Oracle Road, has become a hub for fine mineral dealers, providing them with year-round mineral storage and a nice display area.

Many dealers are finding this setup to be advantageous, and this show has doubled in size since last year. Makeshift tents and additional dealers have also sprouted up in the vicinity. This has taken a toll on the InnSuites, with many dealers finding the Mineral City setup more efficient than renting hotel rooms. There were several prominent dealers no longer present at the InnSuites and instead only at Mineral City.

We will divide the Mineral City show into several posts:

• Mineral City Part 1 (this post)
• Mineral City Part 2
• Large Rutile from Brazil from Miner's Lunchbox
• Congo finds from Spirifer Minerals
• New York Fluorite
• Frederico Barlocher Parking Lot Minerals

This second post of the 2020 Tucson Mineral City Show features photos of some of the exceptional minerals that I encountered at the dealer rooms. This includes new mineral finds, strange or unusual minerals, or simply remarkable specimens that I came across or that the dealers showed me.

This post is a continuation of the previous Mineral City show post.

The 22nd Street Show, run by Lowell Carhart and his crew at Eon Expos, does a fantastic job organizing a gigantic, ever-growing tent just south of downtown Tucson, calling it the 22nd Street Show. The tent is open before and during the main show, and has a multitude of mineral, gemstone, and jewelry dealers present from all parts of the world.

There are many dealers with gemstone rough, beads, lapidary material, and common foreign material. But scattered throughout the show are several significant mineral dealers with interesting findings. Many great deals and hidden treasures can be found if you comb carefully through the giant tent.

Some of the interesting material I witnessed at this show included more of the yellow-tipped Quartz with Halloysite from Cabiche, Colombia. Schwartz Fine Minerals contained several displays of very large and aesthetic material mined this year, labelled, ironically, as "Corona Quartz." (Perhaps this was a precursor of what was yet to come after the show!) Schwartz Fine Minerals also had a new find of lightly-colored Amethyst in "cactus" like formations, from the famous amethyst locality of Piedra Parada, Veracruz.

The Gneiss Guys (they are some nice guys out of Canada) had Apophyllite with an unusual orange color, from Nashik, India. There is an abundance of Moroccan dealers at this show, all pretty much looking the same with the same material (Vanadinite, Aragonite, Barite, Quartz, wrapped in a very typical format.) However, this year surprised me with several of these Moroccan dealers having giant mineral matrixes covered with hundreds of Vanadinite crystals. These are highly impressive for the color and quality, and surpass any previous level of this popular Moroccan mineral.

A new vendor was present at the Showcase tent under the company name of Sonoranite. This company has discovered, polished, and marketed a new gemstones that they have given the trade name "Sonoranite". The material, discovered by Scottsdale natives John and Steve Hornewer, describes a dark metamorphic rock containing Epidote, Pumpellyite, sulfides, and gold ore. The specific locality was not provided, but presumably it is somewhere in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona.

I recently received a big box that was delivered to my home. It was heavy, with three large books inside. My set of Fifty Years of What’s New in Minerals had arrived. This set, comprised of 2 large volumes and and an index, is a compendium of "What’s New in Minerals" and Related Columns in the Mineralogical Record from 1970-2019. (I had no idea that "What’s New in Minerals" went that far back!)

This compilation is an amazing feat by Tom Moore. Aside from the historical context and reference of having all these articles in one central publication, the index is a masterpiece. At 184 pages, the index was too large to include within the original books, and needed to be its own separate book. The index lists all minerals organized by localities from all the “What’s New in Minerals.”

Browsing through some of the older articles in the first volume is a trip through mineralogical history. It is fascinating to see “new” discoveries that have now become mainstream, as well as some historical specimens. On Page 177 in the first volume, there is a black and white photo of the famous Rhodochrosite “worm” on Pyrite from Santa Eulalia, Chihuahua, Mexico, belonging to Ken and Betty Roberts and displayed at the 1979 Detroit show. This specimen was one of the highlight specimens at the Jim and Gail Spann collection display this year at the Tucson 2020 show.

It is also interesting viewing photos of renowned mineral personalities in their younger years. On the same page as the above-referenced Rhodochrosite is a young and perky Dave Wilber smiling in front of his case of minerals at the 1974 Lincoln, Nebraska federation show.

Seeing the history and developments of earlier shows in a different era is an experience you get going through the volumes. Many smaller shows and events are represented, before all the current mega shows have fully developed into the powerhouses they are today dominating the mineral showplace.

I had the privilege of contributing both photos and articles in this compilation, and am honored to be part of this exciting and historical piece of work. I only wish that in earlier years, I would have written more and taken more photos of shows that I attended and had more information to provide. 

The 3-volume set is available and in-stock from the Mineralogical Record website. Wendell Wilson, editor-in-chief of the Mineralogical Record, told me that there are only 500 sets that were printed, and there isn't any additional printing planned. All those with an interest in mineral discoveries in the past 50 years and their history should take the opportunity to purchase this set before it is too late.