FEATURE STORY
The Tucson gem and mineral shows can be a bewildering, exhausting experience — but it’s not an experience to be missed. I hadn’t been working at Lapidary Journal for very long before I heard what I thought was a rather odd question. “So, you’re going to Tucson, huh? Think you’re up to it?” Now, it should be said that I did, in fact, have something of a clue. I’d heard about the “collection of shows” that were put on in Tucson, and I knew that a large percentage of our staff picked up and shipped out to the southwest over two weeks each winter. I knew, of course, that production of the megalithic Tucson Show Guide (shameless plug), took over our offices each fall. And from talking to jewelers and gem dealers and beadmakers, I’d become accustomed to the question, “Will I see you in Tucson?” So I knew that Tucson was, apparently, A Very Big Deal. But I figured, I was a professional. I’d been to trade shows before. I knew what they were like. So yeah, I was up to Tucson. Why on Earth wouldn’t I be? By the end of my first day exploring the extravaganza that hijacks the southwestern city each year, my feet were sore from walking, my back hurt from bending over displays, my eyes were gritty from dust, my fingers itched from wanting to touch, pick up, and examine, and my brain hurt. And it was exhilarating. Everywhere I turned, there was something else to see, something I’d never seen before, something fabulous. And there were all these people who knew what they were talking about — be it stones, minerals, metals, beads, or fossils — and they were all eager to explain what exactly it was that I was looking at and how it had come to look that way. The sheer volume of information to take in was staggering. And the sheer volume of material was bewildering. Row after row of fossils, table after table of handmade beads, booth after booth laden with trays of stones, whole bowls of glittering gems, and ropes of gleaming pearls.
By the end of the week, my feet were blistered and my brain had passed overload and threatened complete meltdown. As I reclined as far as my coach-class seat would allow on the flight home to grey, wintery Philadelphia, I thought: Next year, I’ll have a plan. I’ll make a schedule, stick to an itinerary. I’ll decide where I want to go, what I want to see, and work out timetables. I’ll make lists. And I’ll wear better shoes. The small beginning in this case was the Tucson Gem & Mineral Society, which in 1955 organized a larger-scale version of the standard “Show & Tell.” The idea was to get together and show off their mineral collections to whatever members of the public might be interested. The public turned out to be very interested indeed, and the one-time show became an annual event. The public kept coming, word spread, and the exhibits expanded — until things really shifted gears in the early 1960s, when the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History brought a display to the show. Welcome to the Major Leagues, Tucson. From there, it was a matter of time before Tucson became the rock and gem equivalent of Bud Selig.
Of course, Tucson today isn’t merely the baseball commissioner — although it is that, with the gem and jewelry world looking to Tucson for indications of trends, news, and price structures. Tucson is the New York Yankees and the Toledo Mudhens and the Little League and backlot stickball. As business came to Tucson, Tucson didn’t become exclusively big business. If anything, Tucson’s spread has been an outward sprawl rather than upward thrust — for the Tucson shows, “bigger” has equalled “more democratic.” As established shows got more professional, new shows sprang up around the fringes to take on the mantle of homespun renegade. Today, the bright lights and gleaming cases of the American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) show are balanced by the stretch of tents that extend beyond the hotels on the dusty strip paralleling Interstate 10. The TGMS show is still commonly referred to as “The Main Show,” now taking up residence at the Convention Center to close out the festivities. Open to the public, the Main Show is a truly inspiring array of booths packed to brimming with mineral specimens as well as gems, jewelry, books, and rocks, and the special exhibits are phenomenal (check out the TGMS Web site for a list of special events; see “Local Contacts”). This is where the Smithsonian still sets up camp. All in all, there are in the neighborhood of 30 separate shows, running the gamut from rough gems to loose beads. Shows are roughly divided into wholesale and retail shows, with some overlap — it’s important to know which shows you qualify for, and to carry your certifications with you if you intend to do wholesale buying. (See “Shopping Wholesale?”)
The whole “food chain” of the jewelry business is represented in Tucson, along with the equivalent of the candy bars that find their way into your basket in the checkout line of the supermarket. You can find gem rough by the barrel, metal suppliers and refiners, tool vendors and manufacturers, stone cutters, cut stones, and jewelry makers. Whatever you’re looking for, you can find it — whether it’s something you’re looking for specifically, like a certain shade of turquoise or calibrated peridot rounds, or something you didn’t know you needed until you saw it, like a new leather jacket or a didgeridoo. Last year, I came home from Tucson with a new tablecloth, of all things. Who knew I needed one? Certainly not me, not until I saw it on a table next to a booth selling dreamcatchers.
Those big plans I had to tackle Tucson methodically in my second year and do it “right?” Didn’t happen. Or rather, the methodical plan happened, but it still didn’t quite work. I was still under the impression that I could, somehow, see it all. Frankly, you can’t. If I could somehow add more hours to the day, sure. Of course, if I had the divine capabilities to bend time and space, I’d also have an endless supply of energy, and I probably wouldn’t have a problem with my feet hurting, either. All in all, after seven years of hitting Tucson, I’ve finally got a system down — and it’s not perfect, by any means. My eyes still glaze over by midway through the tour. The trick is to accept that you’re not going to see it all, and not to try. You’ll only make yourself crazy. When you stop seeing things, take a break. Sit down, drink some fresh-squeezed lemonade (another thing that Tucson has a lot of — food vendors) and rest your eyes, feet, and mind. Then, when you’ve caught your breath, start again. There’s always something more to see, and always something worth seeing. Last January, as we were preparing for the impending Lapidary Journal exodus to Tucson, a new staffer mentioned that it would be his first time going. “Oh?” I said, with a cool and oh-so-wordly lift of the eyebrows, “You think you’re up to it?” |
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Click here for helpful Tucson tips & information | Tucson Show Guide's comprehensive list of all shows
Hazel L. Wheaton
Hazel L. Wheaton has been the Managing Editor of Lapidary Journal for the past seven years.
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