TUCSON 24: MINERAL CITY, GUACAMOLE, AND SOFTBALL

 

OK, if Tucson Show attendees came down to Arizona to see minerals, all sorts of minerals, beautiful minerals from micros to cabinet, no brass bells and other do-dads, but just great minerals, then Mineral City is the place to go.  Located noth of downtown along main drag Oracle Road with an address on Lester, Mineral City was like the Phoenix rising from the ashes. The brainchild of Graham Sutton, Mineral City has expanded, in five short years, from “nothing in an empty lot, to a series of warehouse-like buildings holding, in 2024, over 120 mineral dealers. These buildings are single story and each with a central hallway supporting individual rooms on either side. Dealers may “decorate” as desired with chairs, cases of all sorts, coffee pots, a wine decanter or two, and throw in good conversations. Building D offers The Stope, a mining themed relaxation room complete with wine, coffee, beer, dispalys and conversation with Chric DeStafano holding down the home of Mineralogical Record. Hallways in Buildings C & D have display cases filled with specimens from the Young Mineral Collectors (including Austin Cockell from CSMS). Phil Persson from Denver and Leonard Himes from Monument have great specimens displayed and for sale. Want to visit about adventures while collecting in Mexico? Stop in and see Dennis Beals from Denver. 

 

Erin Deventhal from the Four Corners area has a mineral booth and was also selected as the 2323 “street artist” to paint a mural on the outside wall of Building D  (see recent issue of Rocks and Minerals, Vol. 98, issue 6, 2023).

One of my favorite show specimens: chrysocolla and malachite from the DR Congo. 

Tourmaline from the mines of Brazil.

Aquamarine from Pakistan priced at $35,000.

Above two specimens are beautiful fluorite from Illinois. One is $9,500 while the lower is $20,000. I keep dreaming about a student field trip in the 1960s where the "locals" had piles of fluorite in their yards for sale-nice specimens for fifty cents more or less. However, a half buck to a student was serious money but I did bring home a few crystals.

Dennis Beals from Denver spinning yarns about collecting in Mexico.

Arkfeld Minerals had a wide variety of reasonably priced minerals in the display case above. The bottom photo is a nice display of the fairly rare cesium mineral pezzottaite.
 

 

And by-the-way, California still produces gold! 

 

Adjacent to the warehouse buildings are other structures with more dealers including our friends the Pinnacle Five Minerals (Joe Dorris family) situated in Mineral Village selling prized amazonite specimens from his claims near Lake George, Colorado.  At the corner of Oracle and Lester (east end of Mineral City) is a former eating establishment (a bright pink color), La Fuente de Piedras connected to a large tent, housing a number of dealers including a large Arkenstone with displays of very fine minerals, the Rock Currier Collection, Rocks and Minerals Magazine, and a fine collection of micros and thumbnails at Petr Sztacho Minerals. At the far west end of Mineral City are a variety of stand-alone buildings housing dealers selling large specimens like The Rock Yard and Barlows.

The nearby Catalina Mountains, one of the Madrean Sky Islands with the Pusch Ridge Wilderness Area, offer fantastic views for show attendees as they are visible throughout Tucson. This particular view is from my brother's back patio at sunset.

Mineral City is an amazing place, and I spent the better part of three days ogling and conversing and even buying a few specimens (described later). I can’t begin to describe the many sights, smells, tastes and sounds (of happy rockhounds).

And food, did I mention some fantastic eating, like made at your table guacamole and a frosty IPA (photo courtesy of Baja Brewing).

And, if you are a little tired of minerals consider that the U of A women's softball team is nationally ranked and the other night it was 74 degrees at 6:00 pm. The beautiful stadium is near the center of campus.

For additional excitement the successful women's basketball team plays before a home crowd of 7000+.

 

Tucson and the mineral shows are an exciting place to visit and explore. If you plan to attend in 2024 get your motel or camping sites early. Then plan to whoop it up.