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The 2020 Tucson 22nd Street Show

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.



Tent at the Tucson 22nd Street Show
Massive Tent at the Tucson 22nd Street Show

Other Side of the Tent at the Tucson 22nd Street Show
Other Side of the Tent at the Tucson 22nd Street Show

A fine Corona Quartz with Halloysite Inclusions from Cabiche, Colombia - Schwartz Fine Minerals
Was this Yellow-Tipped Quartz Forboding Something Sinister with its Labelled Name?
A fine Quartz with Halloysite Inclusions from Cabiche, Colombia
Schwartz Fine Minerals

A fantastic new find of light Amethyst from the Prolific Locality of Piedra Parada, Veracruz, Mexico - Schwartz Fine Minerals
A fantastic new find of white Quartz with Amethyst tips
from the prolific locality of Piedra Parada, Veracruz, Mexico
Schwartz Fine Minerals

More white Quartz with Amethyst tips from Piedra Parada, Veracruz, Mexico - Schwartz Fine Minerals
More white Quartz with Amethyst tips
from Piedra Parada, Veracruz, Mexico
Schwartz Fine Minerals

Unusual Orange-Pink Apophyllite from Nashik, India - The Gneiss Guy
Unusual Orange-Pink Apophyllite from Nashik, India
The Gneiss Guy

Very Large Vanadinite Matrix Specimens from Mibladen, Morocco - Mibladen Minerux
Very Large Vanadinite Matrix Specimens from Mibladen, Morocco Crystals
Mibladen Minerux

Red-Tipped Hematite-Included Quartz Scepters from Rockhound Gulch, Denny Mountain, King Co., Washington - Bruce Wood Minerals
Red-Tipped Hematite-Included Quartz Scepters from
Rockhound Gulch, Denny Mountain, King Co., Washington
Bruce Wood Minerals

New find of Scolecite Included in Apophyllite from Jalgaon, India - Bruce Wood Minerals
New find of Scolecite Included in Apophyllite from Jalgaon, India
Bruce Wood Minerals

Giant Petrified Wood Masses from Arizona
Giant Petrified Wood Masses from Arizona

Large Sonoranite Rough Specimen
Large "Sonoranite" Rough Specimen
Sonoranite

Cut Sonoranite Gemstones
Cut "Sonoranite" Gemstones
Sonoranite

Salmon Calcite with Pyroxene
Salmon Calcite with Pyroxene from the Sonaranite Mines
Sonoranite

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