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Tucson show report 2 - The Westward Look show24 Feb 2008 By Robin The Westward Look is always one of the highlights of Tucson - a show with a jaw dropping array of minerals. This is a small mineral show of 24 high end mineral dealers, and the specimens on display are always some of the best you will see anywhere in Tucson. For me, this show highlights one of the things that makes mineral collecting a passion, to be able to see the colours, the forms, the sheer beauty of something created by nature.
The Westward Look show is set in the Westward Look Resort in the north of Tucson, in the foothills of the Catalina Mountains, with a gorgeous view. The dealers exhibit from hotel rooms, which are clustered into groups of six, such as shown in the picture below.
I am pleased to say that we had some super things on display in our room, from recently acquired collections such as Dr. Gerald Clark, and E. O. Stratton Collections, including things of beauty and things of rarity and interest.
 The beauty - Azurites, Beryls, Mimetites, Garnets ......
 The rare - a Catapleiite with Richterite from Poudrette Quarry, Mont Sainte - Hilaire, Canada ex. Dr. Gerald Clark Collection with exceptionally large crystals.
 The interesting - a large Malachite with Azurite from Bisbee, Arizona, ex. E. O. Stratton collection.
 A pretty Calcite with Malachite inclusions, Bisbee, Arizona, ex. Dr. Gerald Clark collection.
 A very rare and very large Native Lead specimen from Langban, Filipstad, Sweden, ex. Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia.  A pretty combination specimen of Garnet, Quartz and Aquamarine from Tatu, Pakistan. 
An impressive Wulfenite from San Francisco Mine, Mexico, ex. Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, Collection.  Our miniatures collection - acquired recently from a German collector, this suites of miniatures was filled with some really sweet pieces from around the world, this was their first showing.  One of my favourites of the miniatures, a jewel of a Cerussite crystal from Touissit, Morocco.
Outside in the rest of the show, there was also plenty to see.......
 This Aquamarine from Shigar Valley, Pakistan, caught my eye with its superb tropical sea colour, found in the room of Miner's Lunchbox.  Andreas Guhr of Mineralien Zentrum had this very large Amazonite specimen approx 40cm across of great colour (location unknown to me - it was on the back of the 'hold' label!)  Continuing in the theme of blue this large Chalcanthite on matrix with eye popping electric blue colour was in Kevin Ward of the Mineral Gallery's room. The specimen was approx 25cm across. Kevin also had this leaf Native Silver from Mexico, a nice change to see a nice Silver specimen that is not a wire.
 Leaf Native Silver with crystalline Silver from El Caballo Mine, Batopilas, Chihuahua, Mexico, specimen was at least 10cm tall (if I remember correctly!). Rob Sielecki of Ausrox had several incredible Azurites from Tsumeb. These specimens were found around the same time as Sam Gordon expedition from the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences in 1929. The Azurites were then spirited away to Europe where they have been sitting in a Swiss bank vault until last year. The specimens have glassy lustre and beautiful crystal form, and feature very large crystals!
 The shelf of Tsumeb Azurites  Here is a photo of one that I took earlier whilst they were being unpacked. Glassy lustre, and it was over 15cm in length. Gordon-Lithosphere Minerals had several very nice gemmy Baryte specimens from Nevada - from Meikle Mine, and Dee Mine.
 Gemmy Baryte from Bush Pocket, Meikle Mine, Nevada. Not all dealers at the Westward Look show sell mineral specimens, Allan Lang owner of R. A. Langheinrich Meteorites and also Langs Fossils had a room with some cool stuff on display, including shelves of meteorites.  Meteorites in the room of R. A. Langheinrich Meteorites. On to Collector's Edge, it is always a treat to visit their room, and try hard not to photograph everything in there!! They had the following specimens that caught my eye:
 This prettily coloured Fluorite from Namaqualand, Northern Cape Province, South Africa reminded me of a Scorpion with a raised tail.  Definitely one of my favourites, an ball of Adamite from Ojuela Mine, Mapimi, Mexico on an Adamite sandwich. Steve of Collector's Edge was kind enough to show me some Apatite specimens from Sapo Mine, Brazil. These new Apatites have been out for a while, brought to the 2007 Denver show by Luiz Menezes, however this is the first time I have seen specimens with stacked Apatite crystals. These specimens were on exhibit at the main TGMS show, and have wonderful lustre and form.  Stacked Apatite crystals from Sapo Mine, Minas Gerais, Brazil in a branching formation.  Stacked Apatite crystals rise from the matrix, from Sapo Mine, Brazil. Into Stuart Wilensky of Wilensky Fine Minerals, there was lots to see, including this really gemmy Chinese Cassiterite:
 Gemmy Cassiterite from Ximeng, Yunnan Province, China Stuart had several specimens from one of the new big finds at the show - these gemmy pale pink Manganocalcites from Fengjiashan Mine (Daye Copper mine), Daye Co., Hubei Province, China. This new find occurred about 12 weeks prior to the Westward look show, and the attractive colour, gemminess and size of the Manganocalcite crystals is what makes these specimens quite a find. Although there are other specimens from this find around at the Tucson show, there were very few really excellent specimens, and Stuart had 6 of the best. The story then goes that the mine owners have blown up the area in the mine to stop the miners
from taking the specimens instead of working on the mine production, and several separate parties have confirmed this story to Stuart, which suggests the specimens from this find may be the only ones we will see.
 New Manganocalcites on Calcite from Fengjiashan Mine (Daye Copper mine), Daye Co., Hubei Province, China. The Calcite crystal must have been at least 15cm length. Onto Andreas Weerth room, and he had a lot of new material that is coming out of Pakistan and Afghanistan, including Emeralds from a new mine in Shigar Valley and these Topaz specimens from a new location - a new mine in Paprock, Nuristan, Afghanistan.
 New Topaz from Paprok, Afghanistan. He also had this unusual specimen - a faden Quartz that was also a Gwindel.
 Faden and Gwindel Quartz specimen from Waziristan, Pakistan. Green Mountain Minerals had some super pieces, this Brazilian Euclase was just stunning with its eye catching colour - the specimen just glowed!
 Euclase from Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brazil - Brazil can do no wrong when it comes to specimens!! Green Mountain also had a lovely range of these new Spessartine Garnets from Tanzania. These are from a new find from a small deposit at Loliando, Arusha, Tanzania. Not many Garnets from here survive as they are broken up for faceting. The Garnets showed sharp trapezohedral shape, great lustre and the attractive bright red colour, and rival those from Namibia.
 Garnets var Spessartines from Loliando, Arusha, Tanzania. The Gobin brothers always have stunning specimens and their Westward room did not disappoint. They had these following specimens on display:
 Another of the new Manganocalcites from Fengjiashan Mine (Daye Copper mine), Daye Co., Hubei Province, China, approx 20cm in length  Chromium Aquamarine, several cm high, from Vangaindrano, Madagascar. Chromium is what gives Beryl the green colour which becomes the variety Emerald, and whilst this is classed as an Aquamarine, the colour was certainly stunning.  A cut gemstone of a hot pink Pezzottaite from Madagascar. Into the room of Steve and Clara Smale - this huge Vivianite specimen caught my attention:
 This large and gemmy Vivianite with Ludlamite specimen from Huanuni, Bolivia really stood out, the white background is an A4 or foolscape sized notepad for scale. This specimen belongs to Steve and Clara Smale.
 Also in the Smale's room was this wonderful Tourmaline from Chia Mine, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Graeber and Himes had another of the big new finds at the show, with their new Fluorites from the aptly named 'Jewel Box Pocket' from Rogerley Mine, Weardale, England, which they hit last summer (2007). Cal Graeber, Leonard Himes and Jesse Fisher of UK Mining Ventures have been working the mine for specimens for 9 years, and this pocket is their best hit! The specimens are certainly some of the best seen - very gemmy crystals, often twinned, with no white frosting, measuring to 2 1/2 inches along the edge. Larger crystals to 4 inches along the edge have been found, they also don't have the white frosting but are not as gemmy. The dark green colour and blue daylight fluorescence typical to this mine are quite something. Kerith Graeber was kind enough so show me a few more of the specimens they had.  Fluorite from the Jewel Box pocket, Rogerley Mine, Weardale, England.  A bit overexposed shot of the same specimen, but you can see how gemmy the main crystal is!  New Jewel Box Pocket Fluorites on display. Mineral Decor of India had some very pretty Apophyllites and Stilbites from India:
 Glassy Apophyllite with Scoleite and Stilbite from Nagar, India.  A very attractive green Celadonite-included Stilbite from Sakur, Maharashtra, India. Celadonite is a phyllosilicate with K, Fe, and Mg.  I thought the cluster of Tourmaline crystals at the base of this specimen was pretty cool both for the curved growth and for their colour. The main crystal was quite tall, disappearing off the top of the photograph. This specimen belonged to De Natura. Wayne A. Thompson had some really nice pieces in his room:
 This huge Tourmaline from Pech, Afghanistan was at least 30cm, and definitely droolworthy, looking for an owner with a similarly huge wallet! To finish this was my one favourite specimens from the Westward show - also in Wayne Thompson's room:  Spodumene var Kunzite from Urucum Mine, Minas Gerais, Brazil So that is it for the Westward Look ....sigh..... need I say more! Main show report to be posted soon, people had been talking about it being the show of a lifetime and I think that the displays not only met that expectation, but surpassed it! In the meantime be sure to check out Jolyon's Tucson show reports on www.mindat.org under the Mindat News section. Back to the News List
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