Denver Show Report Part 120 Sep 2007 By Robin Another Denver show has flown by, a week of looking at rocks, catching up with collectors and dealers, and seeing what's new in the world of minerals. The weather was up and down, with several hot and sunny days, but interspersed with several wet and chilly days, and there was snow on the top of the Rockies as we left the show.
The week started with the Colorado Mineral and Fossil show at the Holiday Inn - Denver Central, and the neighbouring Quality Inn (sneakily changed from the Best Western of last year!), officially running Wednesday 12th to Sunday 16th. We had one room at the Holiday Inn hotel, and more than 200 dealers were spread over 3 floors, filling most of the rooms on the 1st and 2nd floors, as well as the lobby, ballroom, meeting rooms and several tents in the carparks.
In our room we had several cabinets set up, plus minerals on the table tops. We just have so many rocks in stock our cabinets were full of worldwide minerals - Mexican Wulfenites, German Fluorites, Swiss Gwindels, Tourmalines, Neptunite and Benitoite combinations etc etc. We had many fine minerals out of several recently purchased collections including the Henkel Collection and the Gubelin Mineral Collection (his Gem Collection sold to the GIA). Here is a few snaps to give you an idea of what we had on display:
 Our Cabinets  Our cabinets  My favourite combination - minerals, flowers and cookies!  A super Cafarsite from Wanni Glacier - Scherbadung Mt. Area, Binn Valley, Valais, Switzerland from the Henkel Collection.  A fine Apatite with Arsenopyrite from Panasqueira Mine, Portugal from the Henkel Collection.  A favourite mineral of mine - Wulfenite, from the classic Los Lamentos, Chihuahua, Mexico; this is from a recently purchased German Collection.  How is this for a Rhodonite from Conselheiro Lafaiete, Minas Gerais, Brazil. A super sharp crystal, measuring approx 6cm wide, 4cm tall.  A superb Covellite from Leonard Mine, Butte, Montana, USA from the Henkel Collection.  One of my favourites - Rhodochrosite from Uchucchacua Mine, Oyon Prov., Lima Dept., Peru. This one is ex. Doug Kilpatrick Collection.  Another of my favourites from the Henkel Collection - Garnet from Jouss Mine, Bukuru Plateau, Nigeria. There was also plenty to see outside of our room.....  A snap of the Holiday Inn  The hallway in the Holiday Inn  Dealers clustered around the pool  The Quality Inn across the road with tents in the carparks - this hotel had more of the 'healy feely' type dealers, plus gems and carved goods.  Back at the Holiday Inn the lawn was sprouting Amethyst Geodes - this photo was taken on the Tuesday 13th, and you can see the group cordoned at the back is already sold, you have to get in quick at the start of show if you want the best pieces!  One of the tents in the carpark of the Holiday Inn, these tents were mostly set up for wholesale good, and you needed a wholesale licence in order to purchase here. Out in the carpark I caught English dealer Dave Hacker investigating these giraffes.
Back inside the Holiday Inn there was plenty to see:
 Rob Sielecki of Ausrox, and mother-to-be Amy Hoppe unpacking rocks to set up Rob's room, with Amy's husband Gunther in the background. The Sunnywood Collection always have a wonderfully displayed room due to their custom made bases for each specimen. I was quite impressed with this case of specimens all from Elmwood Mine, Tennessee.
  A beautiful honey coloured Calcite from Elmwood  An impressive Fluorite and Galena from Blackdene Mine, Weardale, England, about 20cm across
Over in the room of Dennis Beals of Xtal was a new find of exceptional Quartz var. Amethyst from Las Vigas, Vera Cruz, Mexico. These specimens have larger crystals and a paler colour than previous finds. Most crystals were sceptred, with excellent lustre, and often had gas or fluid inclusions.
Donald Olsen had a super range of Fluorites and Celestite from Clay Centre, Ottawa Co., Ohio, USA. These Fluorites were a new find made last November (2006), and were seen at the recent Springfield, Massachusetts Mineral show in August. Clay Centre is an old quarry and the last major find of quality Fluorites was in 1946. Donald explained they were lucky to find the vug containing the Fluorites at the start of a down period of blasting in the quarry. They then had several weeks to carefully remove specimens, rather than just one weekend to recover what they could. The Fluorites were a very attractive coca cola colour, often gemmy and very lustrous, and nicely offset by the blades of white Celestite.
Not everyone had a happy show, English fossil dealers Chris Moore, Trevor George, and several others were stuck in the very unlucky situation where their shipment did not arrive from England in time for the show. Although the shipment was sent with loads of time to arrive and even be stored in Denver prior to the show, the shipping company did not met the given deadlines. The only good news is that the shipment will be sent straight on to Tucson, ready with plenty of time for the Tucson show next year.
A not very happy Chris Moore sits in his empty room.
Next door to our room was John Cornish Minerals. It was lovely to talk with enthusiastic John, and be reminded how lucky we are to do a job that we love and enjoy. John and his wife Gloria mine Zeolites at Rat's Nest Claim, Custer Co., Idaho, USA. The claim was found in 1998, and John worked the claim for the first time in 2000. The Zeolites are the finest in the USA, and have surpassed other classic USA locations.
 John and his lovely wife Gloria.
 The finest combination specimen of Mordenite and Heulandite from Rat's Nest Claim, Custer Co., Idaho, USA
On the other side of our room was Rocks of Ages. John and Linda have recently located from California to New Mexico, and are now dealing full time in both minerals and rare books, as you can see the large selection of books behind them.
 Linda and John of Rocks of Ages Further down the hall was Rob Sielecki of Ausrox. As well as lots of Australian specimens Rob had some beautiful lapidary material - this large globe and the individual pieces of Zebra rock are found only at a location near Kununurra, in the very north east corner of Western Australia.The rock is around 600 million years old and is red banded siliceous Argilite. The red stripes and spots are naturally coloured by iron oxides.
 Zebra rock globe
 Zebra rock lapidary pieces Chris Tucker of Chris Tucker Minerals had a great selection of Vanadinite from Thanksgiving Pocket Extension, North Home Mine, Broadwater Co., MT, USA. These specimens came out this year. The first great specimens found at this location were in 2004, featured in the Mineralogical Record.
 Vanadinite from Thanksgiving Pocket Extension Alfredo Petrov always has interesting pieces in his room. He had an unusual hollow Smithsonite specimen that when blown through acted like a whistle (which was no good to photograph without sound!) and several Apatites with natural tunnel or holes through the crystals, as demonstrated by the strings.
 Apatite from Bolivia Downstairs from Alfredo was Luiz Menezes, who also was selling a range of Apatites with holes, but this time from Brazil. These Apatite are a recent find about 1 month ago, at Sapo Mine, Goiabeira, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The Apatites were from one pocket, but show two very distinct habits - one is very dark green with well formed tabular hexagonal crystals, usually associated with Albite; and the others are paler yellow-green, quite elongate and and unusually shaped, most hollow.
 The two forms of Apatite from Brazil  The smaller dark green well formed Apatites.  A large specimen of the unusual hollow Apatites. And not to forget there were also many fossils for sale. This specimen was found in Natural Source Fossil Co, of Wyoming, soon to be on display in Dave Spiller's shop Natural Wonders in Swanage, UK. It is a partial skeleton including jaw and teeth of a Mosasaurus of the Cretaceous period, found in Morocco.
 Part 2 of my show report - the main show at the Merchandise Mart is soon to be posted!!
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