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Tucson show report 1 - The Innsuites Show22 Feb 2008 By Robin We arrived in Tucson really early this year, and with the finish of the main show on last Sunday have been here for nearly a month!
I was part of the convoy that travelled from Kristalle's offices in Laguna Beach, CA to Tucson - and had the interesting drive through Quartzite, where literally 1000s of RVs (motor homes) driven by 'snow birds' escape the winters of the northern USA, heading to the desert for some warmer weather - and the rock and gem shows, and flea markets. The RVs park up everywhere in the desert - all the white dots you can see are not homes - they are RVs!
 Quartzite
It was nice to arrive early and take our time setting up the two rooms at the Innsuites. There were few dealer there when we arrived, but it was amazing how fast it all changed, in the space of just a few days the Innsuites were suddenly buzzing with people setting up and new tent magically appeared in the surrounding carparks.
 My favourite looking tent out the front of the Innsuites carpark. Unfortunately with the arrival of the new people from all around the
world, came the arrival of all the colds and flu, and half our team
including myself came down with the 'Tucson bug' which put a bit of a
damper on the trip, hence my show reports have been a bit slow in the
posting.
The Innsuites is quite a nice hotel, with nice grounds and orange trees filled with fruit at this time of the year. We had a mix of weather, some days very cold and wet, but happily more that were blue sky and sunshining, when we could stand outside of the hotel room when no one was in the room to catch some rays.
One of our rooms at the Innsuites - furniture removed and cabinets moved in!
It has still been a pretty exciting trip all round. We had two rooms open at the Innsuites, and here we debuted the E. O. Stratton Collection of Arizona specimens - several cabinets of attractive blue and green from classic locations of Bisbee and Morenci. Also we had the 'Lead based Minerals' collection from Kimball Goddard, ranging from pretty Crocoites, Vanadinites, Mimetites, Pyrormophites to sparkling Galenas, and several rarieties.
 Arizona specimens from the E. O. Stratton Collection  The lead based minerals collection from Kimball Goddard. We also had a lot of gem crystals on display, particularly from the Gerald Clark collections - Tourmalines, Aquamarines, Helidors - making for a really beautiful display.
 Tourmalines, Beryls and Rose Quartz. One of the biggest new finds this show was the new Azurites and Malachites from Milpillas Mine, Nr. Nacozari, Sonora, Mexico, with lustrous blue Azurite crystals scattered over fibrous Malachite. Specimens from this find first showed up at Denver last year, and several dealers had them at the Tucson show. Evan Jones had this exceptional Azurite specimen from Milpillas that he showed us at our Innsuites room - an amazing crystal with sharp lustrous crystal faces, and measuring approx 5cm long.  There was also some superb new Wulfenite with dipyramidal crystals from Ojuela Mine, Mapimi, Mexico, often associated with dark green Mimetite which provided quite an attractive specimen - unfortunately I didn't get any photographs of them. These were collected in January this year.
In the room next to us, Adam's Mountain Minerals had some interesting new specimens from Colorado, USA.
Large Bertrandite crystals - a Beryllium Silicate - plus some nice Amazonite and Smoky Quartz specimens with a druse of green Elbaite Tourmaline from Mona Mine, Pikes Peak, El Paso Co., Colorado, found this year.
 A large Bertrandite specimen from Pikes Peak, CO.  New red Fluorites from Lakeview Lode, Park Co., CO, USA. The Fluorites were discovered less than 2 months ago, and appear a dark reddish-purple to black, turning to a lovely red in bright light. Adam is currently analysing the specimens to see what is causing the red colour.
The Collector's Edge always have a room full of fabulous minerals, and their Innsuites room did not disappoint. They had several shelves of Azurites from a new find at Malbunka Copper Mine, Areyonga, Northern Territory, Australia. The Azurites were very pretty ranging from a deep to electric blue, forming flattened discs or occasionally a star formation to a maximum width of 15cm, in a white clay matrix. This Copper mine produced Azurites about 30 years ago, and they are now digging again for specimens. The Azurites are found in layers in a two metre seam which occurs at the top of the deposit.
 New Azurite discs from Australia.  The Azurites displayed nicely with the pink Rhodos!
Great Basin minerals had a new find of Linarite with Caledonite from Bliss Pocket, Reward Mine, Inyo Co., CA, USA. The specimens had well formed crystals of the electric blue Linarite. The specimens were mined late last year. Several of them were also found in combination with Leadhillite.We snapped up one of the best specimens:
 Linarite with Caledonite specimen, measuring about 6 x 4cm.
 Shelves of beautiful Pyromorphites   One of the prettiest!
 A large and interesting specimen of Siderite after Calcite from Northern Cape Province, South Africa found in the room of Geofil from Portugal. This find was featured at the Munich show 2006.
UK Mining Ventures have had a great year with their latest find of Fluorites from the Rogerley Mine, Weardale, England. Whilst the best pieces from the Jewel Box pocket (the best pocket they have ever hit) were held back to be displayed at the Westward Look show and the TGMS show, there was a small preview of specimens at the Innsuites room. There were also specimens from the Rat Hole pocket, which tend to have a velvety lustre, and big crystals to 1 1/2 inch across, covering nodules of matrix; and gemmier specimens from the lead in pocket to the Jewel box pocket.
These specimens seemed to have white frosting in the centre of the crystals which has been rehealed over with gemmy second generation twins.
The Sunnywood Collection always have a beautifully presented room. They had a very nice selection of minerals including two specimens of new Fluorite and Dolomites from Shangbao Mine in China.
Fluorite and Dolomite from Shangbao Mine, China  I really like this botryoidal Fluorite from Henan Province, China, of pale purple colour. Sunnywood also had several new specimens of Amazonite with Smoky Quartz and Hematite after Siderite. Whilst the Amazonite was not the strongest blue, the Smoky Quartzes were very gemmy. These specimens have come out this month, and they are still digging and expect more to come out. The Hematite is not an unusual combination, but it is not common either.
 Amazonite with Hematite after Siderite from Dreamtime Mine, Teller Co., CO, USA  Another Amazonite, Smoky Quartz and Hematite specimen. Luiz Menezes had a lovely selection of gemmy Brazilianites on white Microcline from Telirio Mine, Linopolis, Minas Gerais, Brazil - very eye
catching pieces. These are a recent find, although the mine itself is
not new, and has produced Brazilianites before.
 Brazilianites on Microcline
It is not all about minerals of course, and Manfred Wolf Fossils of
Germany had this large Juvenile Crocodile fossil, found in southern
Germany, and from the Lower Jurassic time period - around 180 Ma.
 Juvenile Crocodile
 This Pyrosmalite on Hedenbergite specimen from Nordmark, Filipstad, Sweden may not be the prettiest, but with 1cm sized crystals it is an excellent specimen for this mineral. From Uruguay Amethyst & Specimens had several amazing Amethyst Geodes, which judging by how quickly they were wrapped up after going on display sold very quickly!! This piece was several metres across, on display out the front of the Innsuites.
 Amethyst geode.
And to finish this was my favourite specimen of the Innsuites show - found in AusRox room:
'The Shoe' from Whyalla, South Australia. I had to look twice to realise this strange shaped piece of matrix was actually and abandoned tennis show now coated with crystals!
Two more show reports on the Westward Look and the main show will be posted shortly. The hype surrounding the main show was huge this year, and all through the Innsuites show you could feel the excitement building ......
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