 |
|
 |
| |
Denver Show Report Part 223 Sep 2007 By Robin The second major show in Denver is the Denver Gem and Mineral Society Show, held in the Merchandise Mart (a large convention centre near by to the Holiday Inn). This year was the show's 40th Anniversary. The show ran Friday 14th to Sunday 16th September. There are several areas to the show - two huge halls, plus several corridors with booths of mineral dealers; plus a large hall of Fossil dealers; and a separate Gem and Jewellery hall for wholesale buyers only.
Crystal Classics and Kristalle share a room three booths wide along corridor J. I think our display this year was one of our best so far, with 8 cabinets filled with a mix of Philadelphia Academy specimens, and other high end specimens from the rest of our inventory.
 Our 'million dollar cabinet' filled with Silvers, Gold, and on the bottom shelf a collection of large Japanese Stibnite specimens from the Philadelphia Academy Collection.
The biggest stir for the show was the release of the first lot of specimens from the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences Mineral Collection, in our booth and in the booth next door at Collector's Edge Minerals.
 I was very excited to see a queue outside our booth at opening on Friday.  The room was certainly busy!
Here is a few photos to give you an idea of the specimens we had on show - many people remarked they were impressed with the quality and range of locations available, there was a lot of specimens on show that had not been seen for sale for many years.
 Specimens from Chuquicamata Mine, Chile - Three Antlerites, donated by William S. Vaux, and the very rich bright blue Krohnkite.  Several Azurites from Tsumeb - the two at the front donated by William S. Vaux, and the one at the top rear was from the Academy collecting expedition to Tsumeb in 1929.  Three rare 'Horsetooth' Siderite specimens, believed to have all come from the same pocket at Wheal Maudlin, Cornwall, England in the 1800s.  This is probably one of the best Mimetites to come from San Pedro Corralitos, Mexico measuring about 10cm across.  Not from the Philadelphia collection, but this was one of my favourite Azurite and Malachite specimens in our booth, from Bisbee, Arizona, USA. The photo does not do it justice.
Collector's Edge Minerals had put together some superb themed advertising for the debut of the Philadelphia Academy specimens. They had these two full size posters on the outside of their booth.
 Collector's Edge had one side of their booth solely for the Academy specimens, and had some really super pieces on display from North and South America.
 This gemmy Topaz from Thomas Range, Utah had super colour.  This is one of the most transparent Vivianites I have seen in my few years in the business. It is from Llallagua, Bolivia.  A very large Chalcoalumite from Bisbee, Arizona, USA  A beautiful Copper in Calcite from Michigan, USA
The Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences Mineral Collection was a huge collection, and we were only able to prepare a certain number of specimens in time for the show, and many of these were the higher quality pieces. We still have many flats of the lower end specimens that we will be offering at Tucson 2008. Don't forget we will also be releasing many of the European specimens at the upcoming Munich show (2-4th Nov).
On the other side of Collector's Edge booth where these beautiful Amazonites with Smoky Quartz, all from mines in Teller Co., Colorado, USA.
 Amazonites and Smoky Quartz from Teller Co., CO, USA
This year's theme for the Denver show was 'The Leadville Mining District'.
Leadville is a legendary frontier mining town, located in the Colorado
Rockies (an easy day trip from Denver) and worth the visit if you have
not been. It is a lovely town with a 'wild west' feel, surrounded by
mines, and has a superb Mining Museum.
Dave Bunk had one of the best Leadville exhibits, putting together several cases of specimens from his own collection, and specimens on loan.
 Display of Leadville minerals, and memorabilia.  Leadville Gold specimens  From left to right - Leadville Gold, Hemimorphite and Cerussite with Pyromorphite.  Another superb Leadville display (apologies, i forgot to note who this display was by!)  An interesting display from the University of Wollangong, Australia, comparing the minerals of Leadville, NSW, Australia and Leadville, CO, USA.  Another great Leadville display, some of the memorabilia is just beautiful. This display was from the collection of Tom Hughes.  Check out the detail on this old 'Leadville Colo' spoon, engraved with a mining theme.
There were several educational displays -
The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles had a super display entitled 'Minerals from Brazil: Specimens with Stories to Tell'. It exhibited unusual Brazilian specimens and discussed why the crystals formed they way they did.
 A two piece Aquamarine crystal, the smaller part slides precisely into the half-pipe shaped outer piece.  A Quartz crystals with interesting Hematite inclusions.  This was a very good display of cut gem stones and the mineral they were created from.  A few different varieties of Quartz, making for some very nice gems. There were several displays on the different forms of Calcite:
 'Sweet Suites - the many colours of Calcite' from the collection of Al and Sue Liebetrau  Another Calcite display.
 
American Women - carved from one piece of Marble.
There were several displays by collectors and institutions:
 I am sure I have posted previous photos of this specimen, but the Sweet Home Mine Rhodochrosite nicknamed 'Big Red' makes you stop in your tracks every time. The plate must be at least over 25 cm in width. The specimen is in the collection of Keith Proctor. Keith Proctor also had this superb Wulfenite with Mimetite from the San Francisco Mine, Sonora, Mexico:  This was a sweet exhibit by collector Shealeene Kent, age 3:
MAD - the Mineralogical Association of Dallas, an informal group of collectors in the Dallas area, had one of the most attractive displays of mineral specimens. Members had chosen a favourite specimen for the display, and the result
was very eye catching.
 MAD display  A super Topaz with a Lepidolite coating, definitely better in person than my photo!
The Cranbrooke Institute of Science, Michigan, had this massive Silver wire from Kongsberg Norway on display:
This piece was approx 20cm high, and a very thick wire. From the Martin Ehrmann Collection  This massive plate of Amazonite and Smoky Quartz from the Legacy Pocket, Smoky Hawk Mine, Teller Co., CO, USA was mined in 2005 by Glacier Peak Mining LLC. It had a great display depicting its discovery and excavation.
Guy Lyman had an excellent display of 'Grand specimens for under a grand' to prove that you can create a superb collection without having to have the megabucks. All specimens in this case were under $1000, some under $100.
 Grand Specimens for under a grand.
I joined Jolyon Ralph of Mindat.org on the $10 mineral challenge - there are plenty of great specimens out there for people wanting to start a collection on a budget. Here is my specimen coming in on the $10 mark, from one of my favouritely named dealers - Dan's Used Rocks. A sweet addition for my collection!
Over in the fossil hall there was plenty to see.
 The fossil hall
This Dinosaur Femur was so large I couldn't lift my camera up high enough to capture the whole thing in one photo. It was found in Utah and weighs 484 pounds.
 This is a real fossil skeleton (not a cast) of 'Ben', a juvenile
Einiosaurus Procurvicornis from the Two Medicine Formation, Montana,
USA. By Canada Fossils. Ben stood about waist height.
 Ben
Elsewhere around the show, there was lots of activities set up to entertain the kids. It was great to see so much interest, particularly from the school groups that came in on Friday morning, where the children knew many of the mineral names, pointing them out on the displays.
 Gold panning  Les Presmyk of De Natura cracks open a geode with the help of the small buyer.
It was wonderful to have my mum, Lee, join us at Denver for her first ever mineral show. Here she is caught spending the big bucks on three pretty Feldspar crystals for 75 cents from George Witters.
I didn't get much chance to go through many other dealer's booths, but I did manage to see some displays of the new Gold specimens from Round Mountain, Nevada, USA. Many of these specimens were auctioned at the mine after Tucson this year. They are well crystallised, bright and showy, and many pieces did not have matrix. I was impressed at the variations in colour and form of the Gold, all from the one location.
 Specimens in the booth of Colorado Nuggets Note how different the Gold colour is, and the crystallisation. 
Thanks to everyone in our team for once again putting in the hard yards, and having a lot of fun!!
Back to the News List
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
