| NEW: Quartzsite and Tucson 2001 Quartzsite was cold this year, highs in the low 60s lows in the low 30s with a couple of days of rain. Cloud's was still open; we were told last year that the Highway Department was going to build a new off-ramp there but they haven't yet so the show was still on. Unfortunately over half of the dealers made arrangements to move to the new "Desert Gardens Gem Show" before Cloud's found out they could have the show after all. Dick Cloud told some of the dealers that there would be room for them next year no matter what the Highway Department did, so there will be at least a small show there next year. It seems to me that there are more people showing up every year; the traffic seems to be much worse with reports that a hour or more to get from Tyson wells to the Main Event (less than a mile) was common . Still plenty of free BLM camping area at least. Maybe I'm just getting harder to please but it seems to me that high quality lapidary material is getting harder to find at Quartzsite. It is still lapidary heaven but bargains seem to require more effort to dig out. I did find some very good Siberian Jade and some small carvable sized pieces of Malawi Blue Chalcedony. Tucson is another story, it seems to me that much of the better lapidary material has moved there (at much higher prices). Tucson can be very intimidating for newcomers. There are about 25 shows scattered through town, many of which are not open to the public. The emphasis is on up-scale finished jewelry and faceted stones but with this many shows there is some of everything. Miners are starting to bring their best material directly from the mine to the shows and the works of some of the worlds best carvers and lapidaries are available. |