A Weekend Visit to the GIA!

Posted by TGMS Member: Paul Harter

As members of the Tucson Gem and Mineral Society there are many opportunities for education, fun and camaraderie.  April 18, 2015 was one such opportunity.  For thirteen years the San Diego Gem and Mineral Society, in concert with the Gemological Institute of America, have co-hosted an annual symposium.  This year the theme was “opal,” but before I get to the theme, let’s take a short journey.

The symposium is hosted by the GIA at its facility in Carlsbad, California  This is an easy drive for those of us living in Arizona.  In my case Marilyn and I took the opportunity to visit with friends along the way.  One of the pleasures of this great hobby is becoming friends with folks around the world.  On the road from Phoenix/Tucson to Carlsbad one might visit with the many show dealers in the Fallbrook area or Laguna Beach.  Each of us should be ambassadors for TGMS and reach out to those who support our Show.  I know the effort is appreciated.  Dinner on Friday night overlooking the Pacific Ocean is always a pleasant experience.  But, Saturday morning beckons and there is a short drive to the GIA.

The GIA campus in Carlsbad is stunningly beautiful as its back lawn overlooks the Pacific.  A cool breeze is always welcome to those of us living in the Sonoran Desert.  The exhibits inside are stunning and give you the opportunity to see spectacular gems and jewelry.  Saturday was no different.  The co-hosts serve a continental style breakfast which gives everyone a chance to renew friendships and say “good morning” to all.  Then it is time to walk upstairs to the lecture room.

Wow, what a speaker line-up.  The list read like a who’s who.  Speakers from all corners of the earth.  The first was Eloise Gaillou from the Paris School of Mines, followed by Andrew Cody noted author on opal and director of the National Opal Collection in Australia, Raquel Alonso-Perez curator of the Harvard Mineralogical and Geological Museum, Jack Hobart and Bill Larson got us to lunch.  Each speaker shared knowledge and information regarding this most beautiful gem.  The programs included historical information, scientific information and a thorough discussion of why some opal (common opal) does not show flashes of color while others do.  One true highlight of this symposium is Bill Larson and his entire family sharing with each of us items from their collection.  Indeed a once in a lifetime opportunity to see so many beautiful opal specimens and pieces of jewelry.

A delightful lunch and a second opportunity to eat outside and enjoy the beauty of the Pacific.  Balboa certainly had it correct, from a distance the view is as peaceful as one could ever hope for.  Lunch afforded me two opportunities: to visit with Andrew Cody and learn more about opal from Australia and to visit with Carl Larson about his time in Paris.  Fortunately the day was not yet concluded.

Arizona Blue Opal

After lunch, Alan Hart from the Natural History Museum in London regaled the audience with some priceless humor, but also insight into his museum’s collection of opal.  Several other presentations occurred, including photography tips from Robert Weldon and the Symposium concluded with George Rossman from Cal Tech talking about color in opal.  His talk was amazing in that he took an incredibly complex topic and was able to distil same to information which was readily understandable.  I might also add that Helen Serras-Herman, who is known to many of us, gave a superb presentation on Common Opal, including a reference to blue opal from Arizona.  I know I have not mentioned every presenter.  For those I missed, please accept my apology.  Your presentations were as significant as those I have mentioned.

Then off to King’s for one last seafood dinner.  This has become a tradition which is hard to top, including a long, tall Mojito.  Again outside, cool breeze and looking at an entire hillside of ranunculus in full bloom.  If you have time, stop by the gardens to see acres of these flowers in all their glory, including an American flag that must have been 200’ by 100’ in its magnificent red, white and blue.  

Sunday morning arrives, the car is packed, but one last stop before heading home, the Carlsbad Strawberry fields to purchase a lug of berries picked that morning.  They never sell day old berries, so these are the freshest, sweetest berries you could ever hope to eat.  A great weekend filled with friendship and education.  Next year’s symposium will focus on sapphire, I cannot wait.  As a closing thought I again encourage TGMS members to be ambassadors for not only the Society, but also the Show it presents.  Many of the folks who work tirelessly to present the Symposium are also participants, exhibitors and dealers at our Show.  We should show not only our support to these folks but also our appreciation for their support of TGMS.  Hopefully each of you will make plans to attend this Symposium.

"Limited Budget ... Unlimited Pleasure"

TGMS Member Post:  Jerry and Mary Glazman

As docents at both the TGMS Show and at the University of Arizona Mineral Museum, we have heard from a lot of parents and grandparents that their child/grandchild was interested in collecting rocks but everything that they saw was so expensive.  How could they encourage the child and not spend a fortune?  We were reminded of the first TGMS Show we ever attended which had a case displaying a collection of minerals that had been purchased at the shows for an average price of $10 each.  At the 2014 Show, we made the mistake (?) of asking, during the Docent meeting, why there wasn't a display case like that anymore.  Everyone thought it had been a really good display case, but since the person who did it was no longer doing it, we were asked 'why don't you do it.”  We could think of lots of reasons why we couldn't, like we had never put together a display case of minerals and had no idea how to go about it.  

But the seed had been planted.  So we spoke to Pat and Rose about the mechanics of entering a case at the Show. “Sure, just send us an email indicating interest and we will get the material to you for the 2015 Show.”  During the 2014 Show we made a point of checking out exhibits to see what could be put in various sized display cases and get an idea of what worked to make a display interesting and appealing.  We also checked out vendors to see what quality specimens we could find for around $10 per piece.  It didn't take long for our original concept of 10 or 12 inexpensive specimens and some text to morph into the idea of a display of inexpensive mineral specimens someone could buy plus examples of minerals we had self collected.  We could include some rockhound guidebooks as well as a pitch to join a rock and gem club reinforced by specimens we had won at club raffles and free give-aways.  So we put in our application for a display case.  We weren't sure we would have enough quality material to fill a four foot case but anything smaller was definitely too small. 

One of the biggest problems was coming up with a good title for the exhibit.  We kept coming up with things like “Collecting on a Shoe String” or “Collecting on a Budget” and those just didn't have the right tone.  It was literally the last minute for submitting the application for our case – everything on the form had been filled in except for the title - then we came up with “Limited Budget...Unlimited Pleasure.”

Once we had received notice that our application had been accepted, we continued to plan the case.  Then about a month before the show, we received an e-mail that all the four foot cases were needed for the competitive exhibits and only 30” cases were available.  We thought about what we could leave out of our planned exhibit.

However, the next day we received an e-mail that there was a pair of six foot high, three foot wide cases that had been set up at the bottom of the ramp going into the Arena at the 2014 Show.  If we wanted, we could have one of these cases.  We asked around but no one could remember exactly what those cases looked like.  Then Ken Don found a photograph of one of the cases and someone else remembered that the cases had come from Tucson Store Fixtures.  Sure enough, on the Tucson Store Fixtures web site was a picture of a “fiber optic” case that matched Ken's photo, It was 81” tall, 40” wide, with three glass shelves plus a base, fully wired with built in lights.  It was a beautiful case with curved glass doors front and back and glass on both sides.  Yikes!  In less than a day we had gone from a four foot wide case with glass on one side to about 12 linear feet of shelf space visible from four sides.  Did we even have enough quality material to display?  Glass shelves … we would need stands and things to display the minerals and protect the glass shelves plus label holders so people could read labels on higher shelves. 

A frantic month was spent in going though 30 years of self-collected minerals.  A lot of “why did I ever collect that?” stuff was disposed of, so it actually was a good thing.  Then the early shows opened and we needed to purchase the inexpensive minerals to be displayed. We planned to purchase as many as possible from vendors who would be at the TGMS Show. Armed with the show guides, we attacked the early shows.  Our original intent was to buy 10 to 12 small, quality mineral specimens at an average price of $10 or less. Enthusiasm did overcome judgment in a few cases (we kept finding things we really wanted for our collection) and ended up with 16 minerals at a total price of $158.91 meeting our goal of an average cost of under $10 a specimen. The least expensive was $3.00 and the most expensive was $25.00.

And then it was the day before the Show opened.  Set up hours were noon to 6 PM.  We planned to get there around 1 PM so vendors and exhibitors who knew what they were doing wouldn't be held up by us newbies checking in.  First problem.  We couldn't find our case. It wasn't in the Arena where it was supposed to be. It took about an hour to locate the case still out in the unloading area and still wrapped in plastic, then get it set up in the Arena.  While setting up the case, we were pleasantly surprised by the spirit of friendliness and co-operation between the vendors.  If someone needed scissors, a paper cutter, glass cleaner or whatever, no problem, someone else had it and shared.  Fortunately, loading the case didn't take as long as we had expected because at 6 PM we needed to be at the docent orientation meeting with Ellen Alexander.

The top shelf was too high to see anything laid flat on it so we put an assortment of books – rockhounding site guides, a BLM map, a mineral identification book – stood up so the covers could be read.

The second from the top shelf was the right height to see mineral specimens and that's where we put the 16 specimens we had bought. Specimens ranged from good sized chunks of Amethyst and Celestite geodes to a thumbnail sized Dioptase from Tsumeb.  Most specimens averaged one to two inches in size and included a Quartz cluster from Mt, Ida, a Quartz scepter from the Spruce claim, a Pyrite from Navajones, an Azurite from Copper Basin, a Pakistani Aquamarine, a Cavansite, and a Crocoite to mention a few. 

On the third shelf we put mostly smaller self-collected minerals and specimens won at club raffles and free give-aways.  These included Garnets from Montana, Peridot from San Carlos, Arizona, Sapphires (with examples of as found, after heat treatment, and heat treated and faceted), as found and polished Turquoise collected on a TGMS field trip to Nevada, Chrysocolla, Jasper and Carnelian, and some geodes, to name a few.  Minerals that could be cabbed or otherwise polished, we tried to display both the rough as collected and finished cabbed or polished pieces. 

On the bottom shelf we placed big, heavy specimens, like a large piece of petrified wood, a chunk of Golden Barite, a chunk of Blue Fluorite with Barite, a chunk of Arizona Blue Opal, and a yard rock with Calcite on Chrysocolla collected on a field trip to the Mission Mine, to show that it's OK to collect rocks that are just “pretty rocks” that catch your eye.  On the sides of the case, we displayed a few of the photographs that we had taken on club field trips.

Would we do it again next year if we have the chance?  You bet!! We learned a lot this year and are already planning how we can do it better.

Photos by: Jerry and Mary Glazman

" .... is better than Disney World!!"

Back in October of 2014, we received an email from Anne Cowin.  In her email she told us that her nine year old son was VERY interested in "gems and minerals."  She and her husband were going to surprise their young son for his birthday by flying from Alabama to Arizona just to attend the 2015 Tucson Gem and Mineral Show ®.  As a matter of fact, it would be the first time for the entire family!

Diane meeting with Chip, along with his Mom & Dad.

Rose Marques, TGMS Executive Assistant,  answered the initial email with as much information that she could give...  days, times, what will be on exhibit, information on the Dealers and especially information on the Junior Education area.  Rose told them that we would have tickets for them and something special for the "birthday boy!"  They would be introduced to our President, Diane Braswell, who would meet with them and introduce them to the "greatest show on earth!"  Armed with all of that, they were even more excited!

After a couple of email conversations with Diane and Rose, the plans were set for the Cowins to come to the TCC Show Office and meet with Diane.  Once they arrived, she presented Chip with a "gift" bag from TGMS, wished him "Happy Birthday" and told him to have fun at the Show.

  Chip beginning to look at some of the wonderful gifts that TGMS gave him for his birthday.

The following is from Chip in his own words:

“In my opinion the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show® is much better than Disney World!   I like rocks and minerals ALOT and it makes it really fun!  But then it was my birthday and I thought my parents were taking me to Disney World but then my parents showed up at school and checked me out and I didn’t know where I was going … but there was a taxi waiting and then my mom said where do you think you are going … and I saw the picture of the rock and mineral show and the ad my mom had printed ... and we headed to the airport - it was awesome!!  My favorite parts of  the gem and mineral show were the people who gave my mom, my dad and me free tickets to the show and a gift bag!  I loved the college students that had experiments and gave out free rocks - and looking at rocks under a microscope.  In my opinion the Tucson Rock and Mineral Show is better than Disney world!  We purchased some very special things for my collection including a Megaladon Tooth!  I really want to go back next year!!!”

From Sweden to Tucson and Back!

TGMS Member Post by: John Callahan

In 2007, TGMS members Kathy and John were asked to host a Swedish couple for the 2-3 weeks of the Tucson Gem and Mineral extravaganza. But what if they didn’t speak English, drank too much, or hollered at each other? What if they wouldn’t care for John’s jokes or his cooking? No worries. That initial visit went so well that Lena and Urban have returned multiple times to enjoy Tucson weather and hospitality. Anxious to reciprocate, the Swedish couple invited their Tucson hosts for a summer visit to Sweden. A most spectacular and educational tour it was. The Swedish excursion included an authentic Ikea viewing and even mineral collecting (Zinkgruvan and Långban Mines). Lifelong friendships were established, with credit given to the attraction of the January-February Mineral Show here in Tucson.

Situated near Lake Långban, written records of the Långban Mine date back to 1667, operating until 1972. The mine is known for the variety and uniqueness of minerals with 260 species and 60 type species.

Urban Strand attends TGMS meetings when in Tucson. He is a coauthor of Långban, The Mines, Their Minerals, Geology and Explorers. Urban contributes his time and energy to the mineral collection at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm. And he has a jaw dropping systematic/eclectic mineral collection (relegated by Lena to their basement).

Shades of Blue: Minerals of the World

TGMS Member Post by: Dr. Peter Megaw, Special & Guest Exhibits Chair

Our 2016 Theme of "Shades of Blue: Minerals of the World" is a bit of a detour from our traditional mineral species/groups and locality themes; perhaps most akin to Mineral Oddities and Fluorescent Minerals in the sense that it transcends obvious pigeonholes and leaves a lot up to the exhibitors imaginations.  It is hard (impossible??? that's a challenge) to think of a mineral group that does not have a blue member: zeolites have cavansite; native elements have blue diamonds; sulfides have covellite, halides have halite, silver minerals have boleite, and the silicates, carbonates and oxides have myriad examples ... and that's before we start talking inclusions and trace element coloration.  And of course there are species that fluoresce blue.  Arizona is of course exceptionally endowed with blue minerals and is the type locality for several copper oxide species whose color rivals our skies on a summer's day.  I would wager that a high percentage of TGMS field trips over the years featured blue minerals
 
This theme should draw some really fun ... and visually spectacular exhibits ... and I am already (!) getting requests for focus cases from museums and folks who really want to play along.  Start conjuring up images of a case littered with top color Yogo Sapphires, rows of azurites from Arizona localities, and aquamarines in every shade of blue imaginable.  Might also be fun to bring the musical Blues to our show, drawing in folks who might not otherwise come to our show.  Chicago Blues, New Orleans Blues, Texas Blues and Delta Blues are well known ... why not Tucson Blues?  Hey, maybe B.B. King could shoot his next album cover in front of a case of Arizona azurite?

This theme should also be perfect for TGMS members to play to!  And in case you didn't notice, we established the Bill and Millie Schupp Trophy this year for the best exhibit put in by a TGMS member, and FM has an award for the best Educational exhibit (why is the sky ... and azurite ... blue?) so there's good potential for recognition of your efforts.  Both guest and competitive cases qualify for both ... and it sure would be fun if a TGMS cooperative group-shoot case won! (As I said last RT ... I'll put in a rock or two if someone wants to organize this case ... Wayne might even agree to line it!) 

So mark your calendars, check out your azurites, crank up BB on the stereo and get ready to volunteer to get the "blues" as soon as the lists go out! 

Photos by: Mark Mauthner and Ken Don 
 

Fossil Collecting

TGMS Member Post by:  Dick Gottfried

FOSSIL COLLECTING

Ever since I was a kid I have enjoyed fossil collecting.  I guess I was a frustrated marine biologist. Everyone who majored in biology in college either wanted to be a marine biologist or get into med school.  The problem was that there weren’t enough marine jobs to go around, and since I had flunked out in my freshman year (having too much fun, but that’s a tall tale for another time), med school was out of the question.  I enjoyed collecting and studying biological specimens, but keeping them in bottles of formaldehyde around the house wasn’t of interest to me.  Kinda reminded me of the Frank Zappa song Lets Make the Water Turn Black,  (“...and all the while on a shelf in the shed, Kenny’s little creatures on display!”).

I’ve always enjoyed collecting rocks and minerals, and I discovered fossils when I was about 10 years old. That interest never went away.  Paleontology, or the study of fossils, is actually the study of any thing that ever lived on Earth, at any time, since the beginning of life.  Quite a wide field!  There are over 10 million animals and plants alive today, and many, many times more that have lived and gone extinct in the past.

I’d like to talk about a starfish that I have just identified that I had found in Missouri.  Missouri used to be at the bottom of the ocean, called the Kaskaskia Sea during the Mississippian Period (359 – 323 million years ago).  This specimen was found in a formation called the Fern Glen (Lower Mississippian), which is a reddish limestone, containing horn corals, brachiopods, fish teeth, crinoid columnals, trilobites, and a unique bryozoan known as Evactinopora radiata. 

This is a star-shaped bryozoan that can have from 3 to 12+ blade-like “arms”.  The specimens shown are actually the bottoms of the “star” which rested on the sea floor, with the arms upright.  These are colonies.  The bryozoan animal is a filter-feeder that lives in holes in the blades.

These animals were either surface collected, or screened by taking home a bucket of mud and washing it until the specimens could be picked out with a forceps.  Surface collecting was difficult since the reddish mud coated the specimens, making them hard to differentiate from the matrix.  Washing a bucket of mud was much more productive, and every other fossil type could also be found.

These animals look like starfish but are not.  Starfish have not been found in the Fern Glen Formation. 

Last month a friend of mine loaned me his digital microscope to play with and evaluate. One of my Evactinopora specimens never really looked right to me. Using this microscope, I was able to take the following pictures at approximately 250X:

This is not a bryozoan, but a starfish, probably Protopaleoaster sp.  This genus is known from the Ordovician Period (485 – 442 million years ago) but has never been found in the Fern Glen.  That is part of the fun of fossil hunting  --  you can find really cool fossils, and sometimes come up with a species new to science.

First Visit to the TGMS Show!

Guest Post by: Dr. Terry Wallace

United Way of Northern New Mexico donors visit TGMS!

 Last fall during the United Way of Northern New Mexico campaign to raise funds for services and programs there was a silent auction of donated gift packages.  One of these “gift packs” was the ultimate rock hound’s dream – a behind the scenes tour of the World’s Greatest Mineral experience, the 61st Annual Tucson Gem and Mineral Show®.  Three employees of Los Alamos National Laboratory banded together to bid on, and win, a chance to see the up close and personal the amazing exhibits from across the globe that included a 8 pound brilliant gold nugget, aka the “Thunderbolt”, priceless jewels from the Smithsonian Institution including an art deco bracelet that dazzles with 626 diamonds and hundreds of other colored gems, and fossils hinting about a time in the distant past when the Earth was ruled by giant dinosaurs.

 Carolyn Zerkel, Allison Grieggs and Peggy Gonzales traveled to Tucson to experience the extraordinary festival of all things “Earth” and got the chance for a personal preview of the exhibits at the Tucson Convention Center with a former Tucson Gem and Mineral Society member – and past TGMS Show Chairman – Terry Wallace, who now lives in Los Alamos, NM.  Although all the Tucson travelers knew of the world famous Tucson Gem and Mineral Show®, they had never attended one before.  The overwhelming response was one of amazement: the exhibits, and student programs, the outstanding talks, and of course, the dealers!  Carolyn Zerkel spoke for the group -- "best Untied Way auction item ever!"

2015 TGMS Awards

Tucson Gem and Mineral Show®

• Best Master/Best in Show: Jim and Charelle Webb
• Best Advanced: Angela Cannon
• Best Junior-Master: Harris Kaminski
• Best Junior: Kaleigh Brown

Best of Theme

• Thumbnail - Jaye Smith/Bill Lawrence Collection
• Toenail - Tim Sherburn
• Miniature - Sue Liebetrau
• Small Cabinet - Robert Thacker
• Cabinet - Brent Lockhart
• Lapidary/Jewelry - Ed & Aleta Huskinson

Special Trophies

• Bideaux (Best Arizona Specimen) - Irv Brown
• Lidstrom (Best Single Specimen) - Barry Kitt
• Desautels (Best Case) - Barry Kitt
• Romero (Best Mexican Mineral) - Gail Spann
• Clayton & Betty Gibson Memorial - Smithsonian Institute
• Bill & Millie Schupp Memorial - Jim Bless (Terry Leadford Memorial Exhibit)

MicroMineral Room

2015 Tucson Gem and Mineral Show®

February 12 -15, 2015

MicroMineral Room - located in the Galleria of the Tucson Convention Center

A new experience was added to the 2014 Tucson Gem and Mineral Show ™.  In collaboration with the Annual Arthur Roe Memorial Micromount Symposium, a full-time MicroMineral Room was added.  This room up on the Galleria level provided a place for mincromineral collectors to gather and trade, share, and purchase micromineral specimens.  The enthusiastic response convinced the volunteers that the room should be continued as an integral part of the Show.  An interactive educational exhibit was well received by young and old alike.

The club will be hosting the room again for the 2015 Tucson Gem and Mineral Show®. There will be microscopes setup in the room through the duration of the Show, except during the Arthur Roe Memorial Micromount Symposium.  Some of the members will have microminerals for sale and there will be lots of giveaway micromineral material available to either start or enhance your micromineral collection.

Last year there was non-stop activity in the room.  There were kids getting their first experience to long time collectors. There was a friendly atmosphere and there was always something to look at.  If you need a break from all the hustle and bustle of the show, come over to the micromineral room and take a look through the scope.

Photos by: Ron Gibbs

Why Minerals of Western Europe?

Why Minerals of Western Europe?

Although many of our shows (Alpine Minerals, Quartz, Fluorite, Silver etc.) have included species found in the countries of Western Europe, we have never focused directly on the “Cradle of Mineralogy” …another way of looking at our 2015 “Minerals of Western Europe” theme.  Modern mineralogy was born there and probably half (or more) of all the mineral species ever described come from this region, plus the geologic diversity is enormous, so this show should stand out as being among the most mineralogically varied ever.  Modern mineral collecting was also born in Western Europe, so there will be a number of exhibits featuring historic figured specimens, specimens from historic collections incorporated into major museums scattered throughout the world, and perhaps more type specimens than ever exhibited at Tucson before. Add to this a host of mining and mineralogical artifacts, mineral specimens exchanged between the crowned heads of Europe (many of whose collections survive as the nucleus of major national museums), exquisite carvings from Idar-Oberstein, and some of the earliest Mineralogy books published,  and you may actually risk reaching mineral saturation!

Many have asked how we define Western Europe.  We decided to eschew politics (especially modern) and took a quasi-geologic perspective in our definition (see map courtesy of Bill Besse).  We started mid-continent with the western border of Russia (our theme back in 2001) and going from there to the edge of the European Plate in all directions.  (Remember, the eastern limit of the European Plate is the Ural Mountains, so the geographic balance is pretty close to even. And since the Mid-Ocean Ridge runs right through Iceland, specimens from eastern Iceland are welcome but western Icelandic minerals grew in the North American Plate and therefore don’t count!)  This encompasses everything from the complex ore minerals from the ancient mines in the eastern mountains to the nearly modern zeolites of eastern Iceland; and from the active volcanoes of the Mediterranean to the ancient metamorphic terranes of Scandinavia.  Many will think first of classics like Kongsberg Silver; Chessy Azurite; Pennine and Spanish Fluorite; Sicilian Sulfur; Alpine Gwindels and Epidote; Freiberg Silvers, Sulfides and Sulfosalts; Elba Elbaite; and Cornish Arsenates…and all will be well represented.  But so will more modern finds like Norwegian Anatase; Golden Swedish Calcite; Les Farges Pyromorphite; Madan Galena, Spanish Pyrites; Serifos Prase; Strzegom, Burg and Rogerley Fluorite; Trepca Bournonite; Belgian Calcites; and Panasquiera Apatites. This just scratches the surface and there are sure to be surprises, like specimens from the Faroe Islands or Monaco…and perhaps even Grand Fenwick!

So whether you pay for your ticket to get here in Pounds, Francs, Crowns, Dollars, Yen, Yuan, Pesos or Euros, we take great pleasure in presenting a mineralogical smorgasbord that should leave you certain you got your money’s worth.   And the weather should be nice as well!

Peter Megaw                                                                                                                                2015 Special & Guest Exhibits Chair                                                                                  

Manganite: Photo by Mark Mauthner