Sunny 75

The Arizona Mineral & Fossil show at the Tucson Hotel-City Center has long been one of our favorites. We noticed that it is approaching 300 vendors. Like all the other Hotel shows sales take place out of individual hotel rooms, in ballrooms, or lobbies. There are also dealers in tents and other buildings outside.

This show has always been great for bargain hunters as well as those looking for high-end specimens, fossils, dinosaurs, and Meteorites. The Hotel has three buildings, each one two stories. You can roam the balcony or the sidewalk and drop in on any room you want to look at. We see rough, slabs, finished jewelry, specimens, and fossils. Fossil fish can be your wall art, or a sculpture, and dinosaur bone can be had for pendants, or to decorate with.

I mentioned earlier today on my Facebook page that my goal was to find something special to make jewelry from. That treasure appeared as a slice of a Pallasite Meteorite from Seymchan (Iron II E), Russia (found in 1967). Pallasites are wonderful meterorites containing Olivine, and the slab I found (later went back and got another slab), was chuck full of greenish-yellow gemstones. I am making myself a pendant and I have extra when someone else begs for one.

The market must be good for fiberglass dinosaurs, because they really multiplied from last year, so I’ve scattered a few photos in this blog. They can be bought for $2000 and up; way up!

The hotel is wonderfully landscaped with trees loaded with oranges. I even saw one baby dino trying to eat one that had fallen from the tree. Bonnie found some outstanding Lapis drilled pendent stones, and I found a great “Rock Star” T-shirt that pretty much describes me.

It was just a wonderful beautiful laid back day in Tucson.