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John Cornish's Tucson
2005 Show Report
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2005 Tucson Show Report
By John Cornish
Port Angeles, Washington
j&gcornish@tenforward.com
Hey, this is great. Do you have a yen for adventure?
Do you like the thrill of the extreme? You do! All right, boy do I have a challenge
for you! It's a toughie though. Here your grit will be tested, your mettle;
the quality of your spirit and your courage, will be weighed. It's a 24- 7 romp
that'll take your breath away. This little marathon, this little adventure race
will take you 27 days to complete and will cover 3959 miles (6446 km)... are
you still game? If so, read on dear friend, this is my 2005 Tucson Show Report!
With this stirring your spirit to a fever pitch, let me just say two little words-- road trip. The first leg, to our friends Ted and Leslie's place just outside of Vancouver, Washington, took only a couple hours to complete, starting from our place here in Port Angeles. Once there, I enjoyed a leisurely evening in their wonderful company followed by a sound night's sleep. The next day was filled with harsh reality and before it was done, I'd be twenty hours behind the wheel. Just me and my little S-10 Chevy maxed out and hauling south until finally, at a point just before midnight, I arrived at the home of friends Melinda and Chris in San Bernardino, California, my travels finally completed for the day. Of that evening's conversation, I remember very little. I just remember crashing in their son's room, who fortuitously was not at home, to catch a few short hours sleep before once again jumping on the road, my hello and my good- bye too closely spaced.
My path was bearing eastward now, as sometime during the night I'd finally branched off from the country spanning north- south running I-5 Interstate Highway onto the east- west running I-10. The busy hustle and bustle of the thriving bedroom communities lining the Highway was thankfully dulled down to a soft roar during the early morning hours in which I traveled and somehow I miraculously managed to slip right by with never a hint of a traffic jam to be seen. And then the houses dwindled away and the desert, all a' blossom from the rains which had preceded me, stretched itself before me and into the rising sun I raced, bold as the new day surrounding me.
It's a shame I don't know the names of the myriads of flowering plants that colorfully lined the Highway, an unexpected sight in what is typically a much more desolate surrounding. Nonetheless, there were greens of many hues accentuated by yellow star bursts of flowers, subtle purple petals hidden beside bright whites, flaring oranges and fiery reds and all mixed in a gloriously multi- textured background of browns, tans and grays. The miles slipped steadily by. At Blythe, on the California and Arizona border and just prior to the great Recreation Vehicle oasis that is Quartzite, I pulled over for gas and a spot of chow before jumping back on the road again, heading for the border half- heartedly pursued by a cloud of swirling dust.
Just out of Blythe, I met up with friend and
fellow Washingtonian, Pat Curry, and together we both made our way to Quartzite.
Pat had been there for several days already and is a bit of a regular. This
was my first trip, and while my time was limited, I was anxious to see the spectacle.
As we came down the hill driving east, even with the warnings, it was really
something to see the desert explode in white. There were RV's and more RV's,
and then there were even more. I followed Pat as he steered us unerringly to
Desert Gardens, Quartzite's main mineral mecca, to a place right up front where
we parked by the closest vendor, a thing that Pat said would never have happened
during yesteryears show. We walked down several rows of vendors selling this
and that before I found some specimens worthy of checking out. Here, two guys
were offering self-collected specimens of Graves Mountain, Georgia, rutile,
quartz and iridescent goethite. They had one nice twinned rutile on matrix and
a small assemblage of loose rutile single crystals, but the bulk of their main
display was bursting with bright rainbow colored goethite coated quartz's. Pat
was taken with these and bought a dozen or two while I continued to walk around.
On one corner, I spotted a large spread of white calcites which looked eerily
familiar, sure enough they were from Washington, from the Cadman Quarry over
near Monroe, in Snohomish County. The pieces were fairly buggered up and of
a less then quality, still it was neat to see local material being offered.
Other then these two examples, I really didn't see much worthy of comment and
nothing worthy of a special trip. Still, it was nice to finally check the place
out and in all fairness, with more time, I bet I'd have rummaged up something.
But time was of the essence and the road was calling once again. With my good-byes
said soon thereafter, I was back on the road and heading to Phoenix for my next
stop at the residence and studio of Jeff Scovil
http://www.scovilphoto.com
I'd contacted Jeff prior to leaving so as to arrange a photo shoot of specimens from both the Rat's Nest and the Summer Storm claims, my digs near Challis, in central Idaho. Everything could have been handled easily enough at his traveling studio in Tucson excepting one specimen, this my 147 pound (67 kg) pseudomorph from the Summer Storm. With this being such a monster, special allowances had to be made and thus my exiting from I-10 and my parking soon thereafter at Jeff's as the next chapter in my adventure was about to begin. At the door I was met by Jeff's lovely daughter Leila, who escorted me to the backyard where Jeff slaved away hanging laundry. We said our hellos and visited for awhile before finally getting down to business. We rearranged vehicles and I was soon backing towards Jeff's lab (and breaking his yard tiles as I went, I told you my truck was weighed down --- sorry Jeff!) where I'd off load. Everything went great and Jeff performed his magic shooting the big specimen first. With each flash of the camera, a dream was being captured, one of the world's finest photographers was taking pictures of my specimens, of treasures found with my own hands. There may not have been the crashing of gongs and the ringing of bells, but it sure was a special time for me, and the camera flashes again and my world explodes in light.
Needless to say, the whole experience really had me pumped up. But with time again pressing, I opted to leave my smaller specimens with Jeff so that he could shoot them at his leisure. I'd pick them up in Tucson later when he hit town. With my good-byes said, this got me back on the road early enough so that I could still set my sights for Tucson. I hit the Highway running. Around 10:00 p.m. I pulled off the St. Mary's Street exit and then pulled into the parking lot of the Inn Suites soon thereafter, my home for the next 23 days. I'd be spending my first night sharing the room with Scott Kleine, who had checked in the day before, and as I rapped expectantly at his door, I felt a surge of pure relief when it opened. I dragged myself in and collapsed on the other bed, where after not too much preamble, I excused myself and promptly, exhaustedly, fell asleep... in Tucson!
Scott and I have shared the room at several shows now, both in Tucson and at the Fall Denver Show. In his Show Reports, Scott offers rare testimony of the behind the scenes challenges we experience to create a show from our businesses perspective and rather then me going on overly regarding the creation of our room(s), check out the links for the previously mentioned last several years shows to see what I mean and I'll be here when you're done, here's the link to Scott's Show Reports page...
http://www.greatbasinminerals.com/Mineral%20show%20pix%20page.htm
... and to his 2005 Tucson Show Report specifically...
http://www.greatbasinminerals.com/Mineral%20Show%20Pix/Tucson%202005%20Show%20Pix%20Page.htm
I loved Scott's analogy regarding Tucson as being an adventure race as this so very well defines all that we go through. His photos are great too, one moment there's a perfect hotel room and the next, chaos reigns supreme and then next, display cases and specimens and a museum appears, one of hundreds that miraculously materialize in Tucson each year. I said miraculously, and a miracle it is. The whole world comes to Tucson with treasures to bedazzle and amaze. And among this legion, here I am, and like Scott mentioned in his report, I'm standing on my own for the first time this year with our business name hanging solo above the door, it may not be catchy and it may not come immediately to mind, but I like the ring of it, John Cornish Minerals.
The Inn Suites Show is the strongest of the five shows Marty Zinn Expositions http://www.mzexpos.com/index.html hosts in Tucson and many of the hobby's finest dealers call this show home. I know it's certainly a venue I enjoy. Marty has terrific staff here whose capable efforts so efficiently make the insanity bearable, and I for one just want you all to know how much you're appreciated; way to go Regina, Laura and everyone else! The folks at the Inn Suites seemed to have a few challenges that had them stressed out a time or two, but when Mark Berg, the Executive Vice President walked through asking folks how things were going, I found that my issues (a refrigerator that was trying too hard to be a freezer, a phone which when rung, would additionally ring in another room so that two people would answer my room's incoming calls, and a tub that didn't want to drain) were speedily dealt with. Oh, there were little ripples, but none so strong as to rock my boat if you know what I mean.
And so here I am, all checked in for my very first solo Tucson and while a bit twitchy, I'm also obviously very excited. Thankfully I had just the right place to exert all my nervous energy... and with that, I began tearing my room apart! As shown in Scott's report, over the course of the next several days, I transformed my hotel room into a showroom. While in the midst of this excitement, I varied things by taking several "town runs" for supplies. Mirroring last year, this primarily involved purchasing lights and getting newspaper. One thing a person learns is not to wait to purchase any support materials one might need. With a whole legion of dealers coming to town, all basically needing the same things, store stocks can and do disappear quickly! It was while returning from one of these trips, with my bags all a bursting with new goodies, that I noticed a little shop that had opened just west of the Inn Suites on St. Mary's and decided I just had to stop. These guys were artists and the shop was their dream studio where they brought to life the coolest of eccentric toys; nitrous oxide injected, motorized bicycles. These were neat customs whose roots went back to the very beginning of motorcycle development. They utilized a Chinese or a Russian (sorry, I can't remember which) motor to create their 35 mph (56 kmph) around town ground pounding two wheeled hybrids. Neat toys.
Afterwards, back at the ol' homestead, it was time for more set-up fun and games. As I'm doing so, I make a special effort to keep the room in a semi-decent state of confusion so that should the early bird walk by, they can stick their head in the door and say hello. This worked for friends both old and new and it wasn't long before the smiling faces of both started to appear more frequently as more and more folks arrived in town. I love this, Tucson, or to quote an entry from the journal I keep when away on these adventures, " Tucson is fun, the rocks are great, but all my friends, they rule! I am so thankful for all these wonderful people, what a great circle of friends I'm blessed with here!". Yup, that pretty much says it all.
As I worked, it was usually to the steady patter of falling rain (and Jimi Hendrix). The breezes were coldish and it seemed weather more a kin to home in western Washington as compared to Arizona and the desert. My room, #186, is a parking lot facing room as compared to last year's courtyard room, and I was thankful that any loading or unloading that needed doing was a quick and simple process of moving from the truck ten feet to the room. There were a great many reasons why I selected this room location when offered, this is just an extremely relevant one with the soggy conditions prevailing this year. And so, with a steady back beat, I worked away, while all around me the place buzzed with others all doing the same. The hours just sort of slipped away and night after night, as midnight would come and go, I'd swear I was going to get to bed earlier on the morrow. Well, day after day of grinding came and went and I never did get the good night's rest I so very much needed and so, like many of those around me, I walked around tired with another fourteen dozen things still needing to be done.
Thank goodness I was smart enough to realize that I needed sustenance. Food. Red meat and beer. The days may have me slaving in the room but the nights, they belonged to Lil' Abner's! Ah the smell of roasting meat, the refreshingly smooth way a beer tastes and then the ultimate satisfaction of BBQ ribs. Umm, umm good! A rack and a half will usually do me in just fine and if there's leftovers, no problem, they eat just as sweetly for lunch the next day. I went out to Lil' A's on several occasions, always accompanied by friends a' plenty, what wonderful times (all except for that one Saturday night when we left a bit too late and found an hour plus long waiting list, we decided on another place as we were all starving and then went out for BBQ the next day where we found out that they'd served over 650 dinners the night before -- whew, that's a lot of hungry rock people!
On Saturday the 28th of January, the Inn Suites Show officially opened and I was ready. I had three display cases in my room this year, all six footers (2 m), and a six foot table (2 m) with three shelves, and everything was filled to bursting with goodies. My primary material is my Rat's Nest heulandite and mordenite specimens. These range in size from thumbnails to specimens weighing up to nearly 50 pounds (22 kg). This year I offered some of the finest pieces we've yet mined and most were gobbled up by enthusiasts. Heck, we even had another feeding frenzy where one customer bought over 500 specimens. What a fun day that was! Our best sales seemed to again reflect specimens priced in the $15 to $150 range and I felt quite fortunate that we had a good selection available at this level. Additionally, there were some truly killer cabinet specimens displaying large, extremely lustrous crystals with great color and while more expensive, these additionally inspired sales. Among our valued customers this year, we were fortunate to add three more Museums to our list of institutions; first to visit was the Royal Ontario Museum of Toronto, Ontario, Canada http://www.rom.on.ca. Next was the National Museum of Natural Science, Taichung, Taiwan, Republic of China http://www.nmns.edu.tw/eng_version.html. And picking my favorite specimen of the three, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. http://www.nhm.org. We feel quite honored to have these institutions as members of a growing fellowship of Rat's Nest specimen caretakers.
Specimens from our other claim, the Summer Storm, of quartz after apophyllite pseudomorphs were a bit more challenged for sales as compared to their neighbors over at the Rat's Nest. Lacking the beautiful color of the heulandites, the pseudomorphs quite commonly display a grayish color. Nonetheless, their apophyllite crystal form is a marvel to behold so faithfully replaced now by quartz. Specimens varied from thumbnail sized $10 specimens up to monster pieces weighing over 20 pounds (9 kg) and costing just a wee bit more with crystal lengths varying from 1/2 inch (13 mm) to 3 inches (76 mm). Personally, I love these things, others just seem a bit more reluctant to take the plunge. Ah well, I'm still going back and I'm still going to look for more, I think they're great.
Complimenting these specimens, I had some wonderful world materials to offer. Entirely filling one six foot (2 m) display case, was a selection of predominantly Arizona material which included a large grouping of small cabinet Morenci azurite and malachite specimens, a dioptase additionally from Morenci, and another associated with wulfenite from Tiger. There were several cuprite coated copper crystals from both Ray and Bisbee, wulfenites from the Red Cloud Mine, and a Bisbee azurite plate nearly a foot across covered in a rolling carpet of electric blue crystals. Additionally, there was a wonderful Swiss pink fluorite and smoky quartz combination specimen, a killer Pakistani combo of aquamarine, schorl and quartz, a large loose twinned deep green Brazilian chrysoberyl, and a fine selection of Utah azurites among other treasures.
In another case, I shared another small group of world specimens, some of these were truly exceptional in every sense. I had several Tsumeb azurites here including one phenomenal group of prismatic parallel growing terminated crystals exceptionally to 3 inches (76 mm), beyond a doubt, this was the rock of the room! Add to this an array of the yummy; a large bright orange scheelite from Xuebaoding perched on tabular aquamarine crystals magnificently; a killer lone prismatic free standing azurite to 1 1/2 inches (38 mm) set perfectly in a cove of velvet malachite from Morocco, also from Morocco, a stellar group of bright gemmy yellow anglesites on matrix; a spectacular Pakistani spessartine on muscovite plate with two glorious perfect 1 inch (25 mm) crystals; a great Siberian blue cubic fluorite crystal perched on smoky quartz and on and on. It was a beautiful room, even if it was mine and I wish you all could have been there to see it.
Around the show, and among all the other shows spread about town was a wonderful plethora of treasures, unfortunately for me, I hardly had the chance to see any of them. If I'm away from the room, simple as that, I'm away from the room and my expenses begin adding up again. Ah well, a person's got to breathe and so on the rare occasion I would close the door and stretch my legs rambling about, stopping in for a quick look and a quicker hello before moving on. For me, one of the most spectacular things I saw came from the room of John Seibel (IS #172). John had a great American classic in a Centerville, Virginia prehnite and apophyllite specimen which was wonderfully large at approximately 8 x 8 x 8 inches (20 x 20 x 20 cm). The matrix was covered with soft green prehnite crystals upon which were perched several soft pinky-white colored apophyllite rosettes to just over an inch (2.5 cm). It came with a stack of old labels, one which declared the specimen as being formerly part of the Harvard collection. A great rock and one which I really enjoyed seeing. Another enjoyable specimen was seen in the room of Niugini Resources (IS #320). Here Neal Kinnane from Hawker, Australia, had a great selection of crocoites among which were a small group of awesome specimens, mostly miniatures, comprised of upthrusting forest- like 2 inch (5 cm) crystals of a typical brilliant orange color, but with bright, deep red terminations. Beautiful things. Another awesome thing seen were the opals of Glen Hodson of Rainbow Ridge Opal Mine, Nevada (IS # 138). Glen had several limb sections with varying degrees of precious opal which were quite nice, but for me, it was the solid large chunks of spectacular fire opal immersed within their plastic water filled containers that absolutely screamed! These things were surreal star fields of flashing color. I'd seen opal before, but never pieces of this size and quality. They were enchanting magical things to see. Among Gloria's favorites (that's right, Gloria was able to come down for a portion of the show this year, but more on that later) was a sharp green phantomed red/pink fluorite on a sparse piece of matrix from Chamonix, France seen in the room of Kevin Dixon of Alpine Minerals (IS #173). This specimen sat supremely among a group of approximately two dozen individuals, all bearing the same beautiful color and sharpness of form, and all lacking the phantom which sat this specimen so uniquely apart. For me, and there were so many great pieces in this room (a room shared by Scott Wallace of Majestic Minerals), the specimen that really talked to me was a terrific large slab of matrix upon which were perched two big bright quartz crystals, both completely a' flame and a' blaze with thick brilliant red accicular swarms of rutile. The terminations of these transparent quartz crystals were additionally colored by green chlorite inclusions. A neat specimen from somewhere in mysterious mineral rich Pakistan. Gloria also enjoyed many of the killer morganites seen in Kevin and Scott's room, and in the stocks of other dealers both at the Inn Suites and at the Westward Look Resort Show http://www.westwardminerals.com which we also visited. Additionally, there were several spectacular aquamarines spread about which also caught her eye and "wooed her" as she says.
Thank goodness for these breaks. Sometimes I feel like I'm going crazy, with all the mind blowing things in town to see, with all the many and varied shows spread about, I only get to see such a small part of the spectacle that is Tucson each year. Ah well, I should be more thankful and humble, at least I get to come to Tucson, and with that realization echoing in my head, I once again set my steps back towards the room, after all, the show must go on. And for me it did, with everything just rolling along as perfect as one could wish for. And then, Gloria arrived in town and things just got better!
But, before that and just prior to her arriving, I'd finally gotten my first full night's sleep since leaving Vancouver, Washington days and days before. It felt great waking up that morning finally fully refreshed, I may have passed out from exhaustion the night before, but I was wide awake now and by golly it was a great day! With me propelled with enthusiasm, I had a spectacular day of sales, which only helped to set the stage for Gloria's arrival. Add to this some good times shared with friends and it just kept getting better and better. As if to illustrate the point, our Tucson, McRocks friend Junesse stopped by for a visit. McRocks is a website out of North Carolina run by a great guy named Mike Streeter, on his website is a message board http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/mb/mcrocks where folks get together and talk rocks. Junesse and I had met through this list and this is the second year she'd stopped to visit here in her home town. This time Junesse brought a monster collection of treasures to show, goodies found since last we'd met. She had some terrific prizes and we had a great time yakking it up. Before leaving, Junesse who is so wonderfully thoughtful, presented me with several presents. For me, fresh fruit (thank you!) and for Gloria, a wonderful cut and polished Madagascar ammonite in an exquisite wire wrapped setting which she'd personally created. It was beautiful.
Regarding wire wrapping, one of my neighbors,
Mark Case of Mark Case Wire Art Jewelry
http://members.aol.com/cutstones/index.html
(IS # 188), really put together a neat scenario when visiting the room one afternoon.
He was looking at the heulandites and made the offer to wrap one if I was interested
in letting him try. What the heck I thought, why not. I selected a small flatish
plate of soft pink heulandites and gave this to him, later that day Mark came
back with the piece wrapped and it was just a gorgeous thing. I was really quite
taken with how terrific it looked and placed it on the shelf among my heulandite
specimens. Mark soon thereafter wrapped another specimen as a lady made her
selection with this very scenario in mind. Mark is a great guy with a kind and
generous spirit, it was a joy to share this Tucson with him. Additionally sharing
the experience with both Mark and I was Mark's partner in crime (i.e. sharing
the room), Herschel Ward. Herschel was working with his folks running their
business, C.B. Ward Fluorescent Minerals. He was great, sharing his enthusiasm
and extensive knowledge of fluorescence with me, and I very much enjoyed the
opportunity to meet and get to know him.
Another neighbor I enjoyed getting to know was my new friend Zeb Gul of Zeb Mineralien (IS #187). Zeb had his hands full with his main mineral shipment lost somewhere in Atlanta, Georgia. First the paperwork was incorrectly filled out by United Airline agents which held up the shipment, then an ice storm hit Atlanta and his shipment became lost in an ever-growing mountain of piling up freight. Together he and I made innumerable calls to United representatives trying to resolve this crisis. First we were told it would ship tomorrow, then that it would ship the next day. Then it was lost. Then it was found and it would ship. Then it was lost again, and lost it remained for days and days on end. I've got to admit, Zeb is one cool cat, I'd have been sweating bullets, but Zeb, Zeb was calm, at least outwardly, and after all, what else could he do? The days rotated by and just when all seemed lost, literally, Zeb's shipment arrived, safe and secure. It may have been mere days to the end of the show, but at least his specimens were safe. Zeb's show was infinitely better after this!
And like Zeb, when my precious shipment, my Gloria, finally arrived, my show became infinitely better too. I met her at the airport, surprising her as she came down the ramp heading towards the luggage carousels. We'd both more or less planned on her catching a cab, but from her illuminating smile, I could tell I'd made a great decision. It was Saturday the 5th of February.
It's been several years since Gloria's last visit to Tucson, I remember that last trip very well, it had snowed! This year the weather wasn't quite so cold. We stopped for lunch before heading back and just enjoyed each others company a bit before the adventure began again. Just relaxing and eating lunch, no rush, rush, rush... it was really nice. But eventually it was time to jump back into the fire and we headed back to the Inn Suites. There, I think it was safe to say she was impressed. When last she was in Tucson, back in 2001, I was running a room for Peter Megaw over at the Executive Inn. That had been a great experience, but now, this year it was our room. It was a nice change and as she looked around after putting her bags away, I could see that she liked what she saw. This was a good thing as this would be her home for the duration of her stay.
And then, almost like a curse of yesteryear, Gloria's migraines started up soon thereafter, and Hell came to Tucson. Back in 2001, on her last visit, she was hit with a hardcore bout of headaches which lasted for a straight 2 1/2 days. This time her migraines lasted for approximately the same duration, this time coming in waves over a several day period. This is as intense as it gets for me here in Tucson. With the room set-up there are no beds to lie on, there's no place to escape. What a horror. Thank goodness we had the truck, there I was able to set up a bed in the back where she was able to escape to, to lie down. Thankfully the headaches did not last the entire time and when they finally did subside, I sent her out, just to get away. She used one of these quiet periods to visit the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum http://www.desertmuseum.org. She had a wonderful time and I think it really did her good. As a highlight soon thereafter, we were both able to attend a terrific dinner with friends where we closed down the restaurant. There were over 20 of us and we sure had a great time, too bad we can only manage these get-togethers once a year. Such is the bittersweet experience that is Tucson. As the evening waned, Gloria's headache again reared its ugly head, we were the first to leave and soon, back at the room, I pulled out the bed, made it and then turned down the lights so she could relax and hopefully kick this agony before its stranglehold became too strong. Imitrex, a prescription drug, occasionally works to control her headaches and my fingers were crossed it would help this time too. The next morning, with the headache still skulking in the shadows, we headed off for a chiropractor's appointment which we'd set up the day before. After the appointment things steadily improved.
This was good, as it was time for me to shift everything up a notch. With Gloria at the show this year, we'd decided to place two displays into the Main Show, the big culminating show of Tucson, the Tucson Gem and Mineral Society's Club Show at the Tucson Convention Center http://www.tgms.org/2005show.htm. This was a first for us and I can't honestly think of a time where I was more nervous. I mean this is the BIG ONE, this is the Main Event. Enthusiasts come from all over the world to attend this show, to see the displays put in by some of the world's finest institutions and private collectors and among them was little ol' John and Gloria. Man, was I nervous! I'd had to make risers for the two cases we'd promised to display, one for the Rat's Nest and the other for the Summer Storm, and the first big hurtle to cross would be finding out if both sets fit. Thankfully, this was the case and our dark green liners and props slipped in perfectly. Next came the actual minerals themselves. I began setting up for the Summer Storm case first only to be stopped dead as I noticed that the case lacked any type of additional supports as I'd requested so as to accommodate the 147 pound (67 kg) specimen which centerpieced the display. As TGMS folks worked out the logistics of this, I began setting up my Rat's Nest display. This went very well and in no time I had everything out and set in its place. As I did this, the show personnel competently dealt with my situation and soon thereafter I was off, free to complete my set-up. The last step of the Rat's Nest case was to place my labels, clean the glass and then slip the glass into place and lock the case. I did exactly this and then set up the Summer Storm case liners and props, I then placed the specimens, next came the labels and the two 8 x 10 inch (20 x 25 cm) mining action photographs which I'd brought to accompany the display, I then cleaned the glass and slipped it into position where it was secured. With my packing boxes and wrapping all stowed away under the table, behind the hanging clothes, I stood back to admire my first two displays of the Tucson Show and they looked great. I was really happy, everything fit perfectly and with this high keeping me a foot or two off the ground, I soon headed back to the Inn Suites to give Gloria a break and jump right back into things. This all happened during the afternoon of Wednesday the 9th of February.
That next day, we ate breakfast and then headed over to the TGMS Show. There I found that one of my labels and one of my specimens had fallen over in our displays. In a panic again, I rushed to the show personnel and soon had the case open and the problems fixed. With this little burp behind me, everything else went great. We had a ton of comments on our display and everything was just perfect. After this, we just walked around and enjoyed the show. Of the displays, there were several that were just excessively outstanding. From a field collector's point of view, if not from a mineral collector's in general, the display featuring the newly found North Carolina emerald specimen, one of the finest known matrix emeralds from any known locality was truly exceptional, to the aquamarine and smoky quartz, feldspar combination specimens found on Mount Antero in Colorado, to the killer big tourmalines fresh from Mount Mica in Maine, yes indeed, the displays, as always, were just right over the top. As a special exhibit favorite of ours, Bill Larson and Gene Meieren collaborated to present a 12 case display featuring the Birthstone minerals. Each case was filled with spectacular things, garnets for January and amethysts for February, killer aquamarines for March, diamond crystals for April and glorious emeralds for May, and on and on through each of the twelve months. This was a truly wonderful exhibit and from the comments of those around us, I know we weren't alone in our appreciation of these fine theme cases. Several individuals placed specimens from their collections into large special displays and of those, three really stand out in my memory; Dave Wilbur's mind numbing display of Condor agates from Argentina featuring endless exquisitely patterned and colored examples of this rare and prized semi-precious gem; Irv Brown's incredible display of specimens from his worldwide collection was enough to cause your heart to skip a beat, it was truly so very fine; and finally, following the theme of the show itself, Steve and Clara Smale offered up a stellar gathering of Chinese minerals where example after stunning example spectacularly declared to all that China is a sleeping giant no longer, truly the sleeper has awakened! A special thanks to all those who brought displays to this year's show.
As the Main Show continued in full force, our show at the Inn Suites was coming to its official end, this happened on Saturday, the 11th. Irregardless of this, Gloria and I kept our room open and planned to do so until tomorrow, at which time we'd start to tear down. But for now, our door was open. On Sunday, we awoke and began a busy hectic day, the cases would need to be cleared of those specimens remaining unsold and this entailed wrapping and packing. Rather than take the room over, we did this methodically and without any rush. Keeping the door open, we even managed a last minute sale. But for the most part, things were quiet. People were packing and many had already gone. Soon the moving trucks would start to arrive and things would get busy. Before that happened, Gloria and I packed up and were soon on the road heading to the airport for her flight home. It would only be a few days until next we'd see each other again, nonetheless, it didn't make the parting any easier. With her gone, with nothing else to do, I went back to the Convention Center, this time for the last time as the show was ending today. I was in serious countdown mode. When the show finally closed, I'd already said my good-byes to most of my friends and with the barriers in place and the display cases unlocked, I began breaking down my displays and packing them away. Next I procured a cart from TGMS personnel and was soon loaded and on my way out the door to the truck. With everything safely loaded, I returned the cart and then at the truck, I breathed a deep sigh of relief before starting the engine and driving away. It'd been a great show, but what a nervous time it'd been.
Back at the Inn Suites, the parking lot had lost most of its cars and the room felt lonely with Gloria gone. The place was emptying quickly and as I worked to pack the remainder of my stuff, my mind kind of rolled itself over the crest of the hill and I realized that I'd survived my first solo Tucson. What an experience, a real trial by fire, but we'd come out on the other side. Our contract was turned in for 2006, and come tomorrow morning, the guys from Tucson Store Fixtures would come by to pick up the cases. With this done I'll begin reassembling the room, bringing it back to its pre- show condition. After that, with everything done, with everything packed, I'll take one hot second to dwell on my experiences this year, all that's happened, and then like a shot, I'll fly for home. Two and a half days later that's exactly where I ended up. Since then I've rested, I've returned from my numbed post-Tucson condition and I've begun to function in the real world again. What a time I'd had, the memories are thick about me. And so as I write, it's great to be home, though even now I'm preparing for next year's Tucson, a person's never too prepared for the Big Show!
Before I go, there's one last thing I'd like to share. We had friends watching our room on several occasions who may have been new faces to some of you. As I'm sure you'll agree, they were great people. They shared so much of themselves, allowing Gloria and I the cherished luxury that was "free time". Steve and Carol Maslansky, words do not express our appreciation. Thank you!
See you next year everyone. Be safe and all the very best,
John
PS As a final little hurrah, please consider looking at the following Tucson
Show Report links we've found in cruising the net which, in addition to Scott's
link above, mention our show this year. These reports come with pictures too!
Thanks everyone, take care, see ya!
http://www.gamineral.org/t04-innsuites.html
http://www.webmineralshop.com/articoli/tucson05/tucson2005_30.htm
http://www.thefossilgeode.com/tucsonshow.htm
Back to GBM's Tucson 2005 Show Report Page