Tucson 2014

Today is the last day of the action. I've been here for two weeks. Each year the show(s) are much the same: the same kind of merchandise and mostly the same dealers work the same tents and motel rooms. At the end of that fortnight, from Thursday through Sunday and always on the second weekend of February, the "Big Show," sponsored by the Tucson Gem and Mineral Society, happens at the Tucson Convention Center. Except for having a different theme each year, the Big Show too differs little from year to year. This year, to mark the 60th Annual Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, its theme was diamonds.

More than anything, these two weeks in Tucson are like a bazaar where people buy and sell minerals, gems, fossils,and   meteorites, along with a range of other artifacts.Since the Mineral Bliss blog is about minerals, they are our focus---even though our most recent post from Tucson several days ago was about rare gems. Prices of  minerals as well as their quality cover a wide range that goes all over the map, and this year the gap was wider than ever. Specimens similar in every pertinent respect to what  one dealer is selling for $1,000, another dealer could be selling for $50. Anyone lacking the experience to be able to ascertain what a mineral specimen should be worth is well advised to do plenty of looking before making a purchase.Just as significant and regardless of the absurd extent to which the prices vary, they get higher every year, this year particularly so.


The climax of the whole two weeks was last night's banquet in the Copper Room of the Convention Center. As in the past, this event featured a silent auction to support Rocks and Minerals Magazine, a live auction, a buffet, and finally the presentation of awards, all leading up to the ultimately prestigious Carnegie Award for outstanding contributions in mineralogical preservation, conservation, and education that match ideals advanced in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems. This year's most deserving honoree was Gloria Staebler  for her work as pulbisher and editor at Lithographie, LLC and its English language series of monographs. At right she is shown holding the associated bronze medallion and certificate of recognition with Marc L. Wilson, the Mineral Collection Manager for that esteemed institution in Pittsburgh.