Home Tucson Show Reports Email List Bob's Rock Shop

Tucson Report Index Next Page Previous Page

In the Cactus Room I found a nice display of Arkansas quartz from Wegner Quartz Crystal Mines. Here's a view across several of their tables and the shelves behind them.

This magnificent specimen had lots of very nice points. It was offered at $2000. They don't show up too well in this picture, but there were black specimen pillows of various sizes stacked up behind it. These were also offered for sale. It was kind of a nice way to display the clear crystals, as the pillow provided nice cushioning and the black provided nice contrast. I'm not sure if I'd want to dust them, though.

Wegner's was also showing some nice Australian selenites. There were three clumps of this yellow/orange material. There was a small clump on the far left for $40, the center clump was $300, and the largest on the right was $400. This stuff really stood out when it was surrounded by all the quartz.

They also showed an Australian selenite with long, slender, clear prismatic crystals. This large clump was offered at $300.

Of course, there was quartz for poor people, too. You could take your pick from assorted points on this table for $15 per pound.

After leaving Wegner's I checked out the largest tent outside the Discovery and found table after table piled with Argentinan rhodochrosite at the Rhodo Company booth. They offered rhodochrosite rough, tumbled stones, slabs, beads, spheres, eggs and other shapes. This table was getting a lot of traffic as I filmed, and several rockhounds came up and purchased some rough. One bucket of stalactite rough was going for $70 per pound. Another of regular rough was going at $30 per pound.

The rhodo stalactite slabs in this tub were priced from $100 to $200 per kilogram. They were pretty.

In the same tent, Vista Gems had tables covered with piles and trays of faceted semi-precious. The blue topaz was priced at a buck a carat. The banded fluorite was 22 cents per carat. At these prices you use a scoop...

Something was inexplicably drawing me to the back of the Discovery so I just kind of went with the vibes. Crystal power? I don't know... but look what I found when I went around back. Quartz City! Coleman's Crystal Mines had set up all these tables full of quartz cystals. Maybe when you put that many crystals together it induces some sort of self-resonant harmonic wave... I was downwind... Maybe you can smell 'em after it rains on them?

I spoke briefly with Terri Coleman, and then I toured the tables. The lowest price I saw on a specimen on this table was $11. The highest I saw was $3500. There were some great specimens for crystal lovers here.

It must take pretty heavy duty tables to hold up all that rock.

There were a lot of tables where the specimens were priced by the pound. The pieces of smoky quartz on this table were priced at $15 per pound. $20 if you picked. Here's a rockhound agonizing over a specimen. He studied it for quite awhile before passing on.

Here's the piece he wanted. I can see why it had him. It was a very aesthetic specimen. I could feel its influence myself.

Tucson Report Index Next Page Previous Page

Home Tucson Show Reports Email List Bob's Rock Shop