Gold at the Tucson Show

From top, Nevada gold specimen,California gold specimen, Tiger Eye from Australia.

For those of you who don't know about the Tucson Gem, Mineral and Fossil show held each February in Tucson, Arizona, you are missing one of the real treats of the winter. The shows span about 4 weeks, with many overlapping each other. We had heard about this show for many years, but were unable to attend due to work conflicts. This was the first year we were able to go, and it was all we had heard and 10 times more.

Both wholesale and retail venues abound, and it was hard to find what we wanted to see in the 4 days we were there. We settled on making sure we saw the vendors we know personally, buying gold, and catching a small part of a couple of the wholesale gem shows. We saw a lot and missed a lot more. The shows are so big you could pick one to attend and not see all of IT in 4 days.

The gold we saw and bought was abundant, but not as much as there had been a few years ago when gold was the show theme. However, we did see and photograph fabulous gold specimens from the U.S. and around the world, and bought gold nuggets at reasonable prices. Remember, I didn't say "sand" prices, but reasonable "gold" prices. Special specimens were shown from California (with a couple of large specimens being bought by collectors before they were even seen), Nevada, Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Australia, and Arizona. Do you notice a pattern with gold places beginning with the letter A? LOL!

Shuttling from place to place is recommended, as the shows blanket the city. Parking, trying to drive everywhere, and finding your venue is a dunting task that the shuttle drivers can relieve you of. Traffic can be a problem and will be worse next year as Tucson plans to be working of the downtown bidges and freeway interchanges. We had no problem finding restaurants with little waiting for seating. We had anticipated a problem with this due to the number of people in town for the events, but this proved not to be the case.

If you have a passion for gold, gems, minerals and fossils this show is a must at sometime in your future. If you have been there, you know it is a treat to be there. The weather in the middle of winter is an added plus as it was 83 degrees while we were there. A great trip, and a great time.