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| VENDORS SELL WARES FROM RV'S OR TABLES. |
The Tucson, Arizona, "rock show" is much more than the four-day main event, the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, held at the Tucson Convention Center The event this year will focus on "Arizona Minerals: so I expect to see, among other items, some really great specimens of azurite and wulfenite and malachite. However, there are something like 40 total venues scattered throughout the city. One of my favorite shows is the former Tucson Electric Park (TEP) Mineral and Gem Show now know as the Kino Sports Complex Rock Show. This show, south of downtown along I-10, is set up on a series of soccer fields with free parking, free shuttles, and offers the opportunity for "dry camping" at $10 night.
The great thing about the Kino Show is, in my opinion, the total lack of pretense among the vendors. Sellers at one area come and park their RV's and sell items off tables and tarps, or perhaps from the bed of their pickup. There are the usual suspects such as Mt. Ida quartz, Moroccan trilobites, and agates from across the world. However, a little searching and visiting with usually friendly vendors will often produce specimens of incredible beauty and perhaps a little scarcity. One specimen of interest that I picked up was ~2.5 x 2.5 inch rock with encrustations of calcite, azurite and malachite collected from the Copper Rivet Mine in Mesa County, Colorado. The vendor told me that he had purchased a flat of Copper Rivet specimens from a person liquidating their collection and that the minerals were picked up in the 1960's. More on this specimen later.
At an adjacent field field vendors have set up GIANT tents and sell a variety of beads (10's of thousands), lapidary equipment, petrified wood, taxidermy mounts, hats, hundreds/thousands of amethyst cathedrals, and a variety of other funky items. Some of the specimens were truly unique such as a hunk of schist about the size of a "Smart Car". Or perhaps dyed amethyst cathedrals, or a two ton rock with a stain of blue copper material.
At any rate, the Kino Show is a great place to wander around for several hours, if for nothing else to observe more amethyst cathedrals than you have ever seen in one place.
mike
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| COYOTE BONES FOR SALE? WHY? |
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| THIS SAW MAY BE WHAT CSMS NEEDS IN THE LAP SHOP! |
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| ROCKS FOR SALE BUT A FLAT BED TRUCK IS NEEDED FOR HAULING. |
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| THE OBLIGATORY CEPHALOPODS |
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| BEADS ANYONE? |
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| EVERYONE NEEDS AN AMETHYST CATHEDRAL. |
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| PETRIFIED WOOD FROM INDONESIA. |