Tucson Gem Fair
Posted on 15 February 2010
The AGTA show floor
I finally got a chance to visit the world famous Tucson Gem and Mineral Show this year, thanks to the gracious hosting of my good friend Andrea. I’ve been wanting to visit her forever and figured the arrival of the Gem Show was a great time to take advantage of the opportunity before she leaves for Korea (sad). We had a great time catching up, eating amazing Mexican/American creations (the Sonoran hotdog is a delicacy not to be missed) and hanging with her adorable 18 month old son.
I hardly knew where to start concerning the show. The whole shebang runs for about 2 weeks in 30 locations around Tucson proper. You’ve got your raw rocks, fossils, beads, flashy gemstones, jewelry showcases, tools and seminars and I had about 3 days to see what I could see. I feel good about my show choices (AGTA, GJX and Holiday Inn seemed the best to me in terms of prices and variety, but the eclectic nature of the Electric Park was a big draw too) and bought modestly with the hopes of more to come once I’ve figured out my final designs and refreshed myself on stonesetting. Since I neglected to take many pictures, I’m heavily borrowing from those with more foresight on the interweb.
Geode slices were everywhere you looked. I brought back many with the hopes of creating coasters and mobiles to put up on Etsy.
Found some awesome, chunky smokey quartz pieces for cocktail rings I’ve been seeing in my head.
Splurged on impratical yet delightful watermelon tourmaline slices. Going to have to save these until I know what I am doing with the diamond drills I brought back.
In keeping with “large stones that look good enough to eat” theme, I picked up a yummy lemon quartz that I see either gracing a pendant or chic cocktail ring for summer. Other delightful finds include chalcedony, tanzanite, peruvian opals, chrysophrase and sapphires. Oh, the gems. It’s enough to drive one to bankruptcy.
Finally, this vision of gaudiness was found at the entrance to the granddaddy of all shows, AGTA. What a specimen! Cheyenne and I both had to photograph it. God bless America!
After all that walking around and shopping, I definitely needed to hit up the venerable Tucson institution known as Eegees. They seemed to be as pervasive as Starbucks, but those blended fruit ices (later combined with rum) really hit the spot. I can’t wait to head back next year!
1 Response to Tucson Gem Fair
I am so glad you made the trip! It completely made my month
The gem show is an event not to be missed and I hope we are around to enjoy it again next year.