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Tucson Eye Candy

by Ken Rock, MSDC Editor

Vanadinite from Morocco. Photo by Ken Rock.

Last month, I attended the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show after an absence of three years. There have been some major changes in the venues, but the show seems only to have grown. Promotional material says that the population of the city grows by 60,000 during the first two weeks of February.

I took advantage of the opportunity to visit the new Alfie Norville Gem & Mineral Museum, the Tucson Fine Mineral Gallery, and attend some excellent lectures at both locations. It was great to visit many diverse venues, reconnect with people I've dealt with before, talk with people who actually mine for mineral specimens, and learn more about geology, gemstones, and mineral occurrences. But perhaps the best of all was the chance to enjoy some amazing eye candy.

Without much in the way of elaboration, here are some visual highlights of some of the incredible mineral specimens that, surely, are excellent examples of nature's finest handiwork.

Calcite & Amethyst, Artigas, Uruguay. Photo by Ken Rock.
Recreation of an azurite mining stope modeled after a real Bisbee mining stope in the Copper Queen Mine, Bisbee, AZ. Photo by Ken Rock.
Wulfenite, Erupcion MIne, Los Lamentos Mts, Chihuahua, Mexico. Photo by Ken Rock.
Tourmaline and Quartz on Cleavelandite, Pederneira Mine, Sao Jose da Safira, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Brian Swoboda, President of BlueCap Productions, in his office at the Tucson Fine Mineral Gallery. Photo by Ken Rock.