The 2012 Tucson Gem and Mineral shows saw a slight uptick in attendance over 2011. There was certainly a great offering of colored stones at various price points. Buyers were spending more this year but they “shopped” the shows and looked for and found good value. This was true at the “downtown” shows along with the various venues further away from the City center.
There certainly was an excellent choice of either cut or rough material at varying price points. An increase of the amount of Ethiopian Welo opals either in the rough or cut was noted as word spread of the higher amount of stable material being offered with a good play of color. With all material however one needs to be very careful in the material they choose.
Also a great amount of high quality fossils and minerals (collector items, rough pieces, slabs, etc.) continued to be offered at many of the shows with the vendors, as always, being very helpful. I speak from experience as I wanted to bring my grandchildren a few slabs for cabbing and the time taken to help me me was–well, you would think I was buying a truck load!
I have always found going to Tucson to be, in addition to help fulfilling our cutting needs, great fun with time well spent visiting with old friends and making new acquaintances. More on specific gems offered at Tucson in upcoming news/blog posts. I would enjoy and I welcome hearing about input from anyone else who attended the show(s). Thanks, Greg
Thanks for the update on Tucson. I’ve been several times in the past but I could not make it this year. I have found some of the best bargins can be found in the small displays along I 10 and the larger tent shows surronding Tucson.
Hi Marie and thank you for your note. Depending upon where you are located it can be a long way to SE Arizona but the usually nice weather is always a plus–especially from here in the mid-Atlantric in mid winter! . I hope you get the chance to make it next year. Thank you, Greg
Didn’t make it to Tuscon this year, but in Quartzsite I would say the traffic was maybe up a little, but it was hard core regulars for the most part. That being said the sales were about the same as the year before. The industry as a whole is down traffic wise.
The Ethiopian opal rough was 5 to 10 times more expensive than it was introduced at and sorted better to grades with the tops over 25 a gram. No body was saying anything about possible treatments yet. Did not see near as much new items as years in the past with more just being brought back for another year. Tourmaline were hot as usual due to the supply and selection possibilities. Lower show cost means lower overhead and the hotels shows expense are way up each year compared to inflation and reflected in their bottom line.