Pala’s Will Larson reports on the Colorado Mineral & Fossil Show

This is excerpted from the October issue of Mineral News from Pala International

It’s that time of year again! The Denver show is here. It’s a hustle and bustle. Set-up day is always a cheer—well, once it’s over. The hallways of the Holiday Inn were crowded on opening day and people were moving between rooms: Make haste thy collectors! Reunited with friend and foe on the battlefield of business. The workplace has not changed with the passing of time; familiar faces and new ones to meet, and some new material was uncovered, too.

Room 183. Pala’s Bill Larson, left, chats with Casey Jones as Dawn Minette browses the Pala International offerings at the Holiday Inn. (Photo: Will Larson)

Grabbing our attention first, at the Holiday Inn show, were many colorless phenakite crystals from Nigeria, amounting to about one kilo in fellow Southern Californian John Garsow’s room. Intriguing, etched faces amplified these crystals; some weighed close to 100 grams. The supply of beautiful green andradite garnet crystals on matrix from Madagascar were again in supply. These garnets are mostly demantoid but we are finding out that some of the larger crystals turn out to be topazolite. Continuing through the Holiday Inn, Colorado’s Pinnacle 5 Minerals in room 103 had many wonderful specimens of amazonite on smoky quartz from the Smoky Hawk claim’s Smithsonian pocket in the state’s Teller County. One in particular was a beautiful cluster of amazonite and quartz all perfect with no damage, no repair, and with good size, about 3 inches by 5 inches across.

“The Wave.” This quartz from Cumberland, England, sold quickly when it was offered by Texas dealer Doug Wallace of Mineral Search. (Photo: Will Larson)

Into room 190 of the Holiday Inn, Czech Republic’s KARP Minerals had a private cache of large crystals of cuprite from Kazakhstan. One of the cuprite specimens was a tree-shaped copper; the cuprites were covering it and dangling down from the copper, quite pretty. Also a massive cluster of cuprite crystals that were very large, lustrous, and with very little damage. This was one of the most impressive cuprites I’ve seen.

Cuprite on copper. This specimen from Kazakhstan is offered by Pala through The Collector, Inventory #17460. (Photo: John McLean)

Across the train tracks on the other side of the road is the Quality Inn. Here there are a lot of wholesale dealers with material from around the world. We saw a great amount of quartz and fossils but mostly commercial quality. What caught our attention was gorgeous fire opal from Mexico: beautiful opals that had all sorts of iridescent colors from reds to blues to greens, and the material ranged from beautiful white-blueish to the deep red material. One in particular caught my attention; it was a beautiful crystal with dots of colors all over it that sparkled in the sun.

Mexican opal. A wide variety offered by Ópalos y Artesanías Mexicanas, from Jalisco. (Photo: Will Larson)

The Merchandise Mart

Everyone loves a good set-up day, and the Merchandise Mart’s was no exception. More cases and minerals, fossils and jewelry, everything you can imagine, going to and fro, from truck to booth. Display cases this year consisted of fine minerals from around the world. Special features were “Minerals that Do Things,” by the Junior Museum of Central Pennsylvania, and the replica of the Crown of the Bavarian Queen, exhibited by the Mineralogisches Museum am Steinmann-Institut from Bonn, Germany.

Merchandise Mart. Setting up in the main hall. (Photo: Will Larson)

Once again, collectors Scott Rudolph and Keith Proctor put on a beautiful display of fine worldwide minerals. New material on display at the Merchandise Mart consisted of a new find of Vera Cruz amethysts, which were a beautiful purple color on matrix, some of which were highly aesthetic with great form. Also from Mexico we saw a new find of aurichalcite in calcite; Rob Lavinsky and Arizona dealer Marcus Origlieri had these specimens, but sadly most had just enough damage to make the sophisticated collector have a very sad face. Marcus also had marshite (CuI) specimens, up to three quarters of an inch, that were found in a copper mine in Western Siberia near the Kazakhstan border.

Arkenstone’s Rob Lavinsky had some of the new matrix Namibian aquamarine and schorl specimens, but these were of a new size range I hadn’t seen before, ranging from about 5 to 10 inches across. Collector Marshall Sussman allowed us to peek through a wonderful collection of Namibian minerals he’d bought from another collector. In it were two fluorite spinel twins the likes of which I had never seen before. Because they looked like tourmaline pencils, I couldn’t get over the fact they were fluorites. Cool! We were also lucky to be shown by Rob and Marshall some amazing spike-balls of creedite that were a tan-orange color—also a new find from Mexico. My host in Germany this summer, Marcus Budil, had a room full of beautiful specimens from his trip to East Africa: the new topazolites and demantoids as well as some beautiful tanzanite crystals, small chrome tourmalines, and diopsides.

All in all, the shows were busy and people seemed excited to be in the mineral loop once again! Hope to see you all again soon in Munich!

Mineralogisches Museum am Steinmann-Institut Exhibit photo image

The Denver Gem and Mineral Show at the Merchandise Mart features museum exhibitors from here and abroad, including the American Museum of Natural History, National Museums of Scotland, Royal Ontario Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Denver Museum of Nature and Science (two departments), and Mineralogisches Museum am Steinmann-Institut, pictured above. At center is a replica of the Bavarian Queen’s Crown. (Photo: Will Larson)