FEATURE STORY
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Whether you're a gem and jewelry professional or an enthusiast, Tucson is the place to be in February |
Touching down in Tucson, Arizona, home of the world's largest gem and mineral show, my immediate thought is, “Where does it all happen?” For years I've been hearing about the tens of thousands of people who descend on this quiet city each February, transforming it into a veritable World's Fair, with thronging crowds of buyers and sellers from every corner of the Earth. And yet, apart from a few taller buildings downtown, all I can discern is a flat, suburban landscape of houses that meld effortlessly into the surrounding mountains and desert. “Where do they put everyone?” I wonder. Things start coming into focus as my car makes its way downtown, past the jammed parking lots and people lined up outside the Convention Center to the giant tents on Congress Street, where pickup trucks are unloading belt-high amethyst geodes and formidable hunks of rose quartz. But it's not until I check into my hotel, naively contemplating a short nap, that I truly know that I've arrived. Like nearly every hotel in Tucson (I soon learn), this two-story lodge is filled to capacity; the hallways abuzz with show-goers brandishing newly acquired specimens, excitedly plotting their next jaunt. Outside my window, rock music is blaring as hundreds of people make their way around poolside tables set up for a bead show. No, sleep is many hours away yet, especially with that bright midday sun and gentle breeze combining for perfect hiking weather. Re-energized, I head downstairs and board a shuttle bus, hitting the shows within moments of my arrival.
You can't help but be drawn into the excitement Tucson generates. Partly, there's the exhilarating pressure to do good business. For a large percentage of buyers and exhibitors, the purchases, sales, and contacts they make during these two weeks will set the tone for what kind of year they will have.
That certainly is how it all started out back in 1955, when a group of mineral collectors and rockhounds from the Tucson Gem and Mineral Society (TGMS) held a free exhibition, open to the public. The show was an immediate hit, prompting the organizers to make it an annual event. Within a few years, the TGMS “club show” had evolved from a local exposition to a major show for collectors and aficionados from around the country and the world, bringing in prominent gem, mineral, and fossil displays from major museums such as the Smithsonian, the Carnegie, and the Sorbonne. This year, the show is featuring a special collection of Mexican minerals, along with displays of the Emperor Maximilian's renowned 21-carat emerald, and fossils of a new dinosaur species recently discovered in the Arizona desert. Riding the wave of interest generated by the TGMS show, satellite shows began taking root all over Tucson, catering to the interests of the growing numbers of people coming to town. Today, Tucson is the meeting point for thousands of dealers from some 40 countries, selling to as many as 40,000 buyers from around the globe. While much of the action centers on three large wholesale shows downtown, there's plenty of commerce taking place at the many other retail and wholesale venues scattered throughout the city, in hotel rooms and lobbies, courtyards, and tents. Some shows are more specialized than others, though typically they feature a mix of gems, beads, jewelry, fossils, minerals, lapidary equipment, and a host of related products. Together, they offer a greater variety of such goods than you're likely to find anywhere else.
PAYING ATTENTION. Although still a huge draw for collectors, the majority of those shopping at Tucson are involved in one way or another in the gem and jewelry trade. From dealers and manufacturers shopping for parcels of cut gems, to store owners looking to replenish their stock, to self-employed artisans seeking carving materials or finished stones to integrate into their one-of-a-kind designs, this is the place to buy - and to learn. “By going to the Tucson shows over the years, I have learned so much about quality and pricing, which has really helped me in my business,” says Anita Wilde of A.R. Wilde Fine Jewelry in Sun City, Arizona. “I get more of an education from attending that particular show than I do from taking classes, because that show is the real world - it's what's out there. You learn about the new gem materials first. Before you read about them anyplace, you see them there - if you pay attention, because you can have the most awesome, wonderful find sitting next to the most mundane thing, in the same showcase.” Wilde says Tucson has helped her appreciate rarity amid the “paper plates and hefty bags” of gems and minerals. While there's plenty of the commonplace to be found at the shows, even the truly exotic will often make its way into plain view. “The first time I saw an alexandrite cat's-eye or a taaffeite, I thought I would faint. Those are things you read about in books, but you really don't expect to actually see them and touch them and be able to own them,” she says in a tone of amazement. Wilde recalls that while studying at the Gemological Institute of America, she was told she'd probably never see a taaffeite other than in a special collection. “I probably see one or two a year by going to the shows.” In addition to going there to buy, Wilde has also exhibited at the shows. Given Tucson's status as a primary meeting ground for the jewelry industry, it's a move many have made.
Greg Fraser first came to Tucson five years ago along with his traveling companion, Mo Ying Chan. At first, they shopped for small accent stones and beads to enliven Chan's designs. But it didn't take long for the Toronto-based artist to find himself bitten by the carving bug - and for the couple to become Tucson regulars. “After the first trip, we decided we were going to go every two years, but the next year, we couldn't stay away. It drew us back,” says Fraser, who now exhibits his carvings alongside Chan's stone-centered designs at the Gem & Jewelry Exchange. Fraser purchases virtually all his rough in Tucson. With tastes that run the gamut from jade and agate on through lemon citrine, chrysoprase, opal, and the stratospherically popular blue chalcedony, it's no surprise that he and Chan wind up spending more as shoppers than they take in as exhibitors. But, he adds, it's the whole Tucson experience that sustains them, and renews their passion for their work. “For the most part, we come away feeling excited and refreshed. I always start cutting the day we come back from Tucson and start looking forward to the following year,” he says. Like Wilde, Fraser says the shows are a great place to learn. He's had sunstone dealers steer him away from more expensive rough to that more suitable for his carving plans, been tipped off on the vagaries of cutting kunzite, and also learned that the only way to buy opal is . . . to see more opal. “Seeing a lot of opal at first, it was a big blur - all these blinding colors. Yet even just going back to the same people the next day, I was able to differentiate things a little better. The more often you look at things, the more you're able to process the information and really understand what you're looking at.”
STAYING FOCUSED. With so much material to choose from and so many shows to see, Tucson can seem a little overwhelming - even somewhat foreboding to those who only know it by reputation. “Some people hear about how large Tucson is, and it just intimidates them,” says Fraser of jewelers and dealers who will buy at smaller local shows, but draw the line at Tucson. “They think it's for big-time players with huge wallets.” In reality, Tucson's great appeal is the diversity of materials available for all tastes and budgets. You'll see plenty of calibrated gems in traditional cuts, but you'll also find the more unusual stones. For Wilde, that can mean bank-breakers like “drop-dead red, five-carat Burmese rubies,” but it also means iolite and kyanite selling for $5 to $15 dollars per carat. Because of the broad range of qualities and prices, veteran Tucson buyers recommend doing as much comparison shopping as is necessary before settling on a purchase. But while being sensitive to price, don't rule out making an impulse buy when you come across something rare and desirable - if it's within your budget. A few years ago, Wilde noticed a brick-sized piece of amber at one of the shows, and remembered a customer who'd been looking for just such a piece on which to do some carving. “I thought, 'Oh, that is awesome, but I really need to get something else. I mean, how many people want a piece of amber the size of a brick? I'll come back and get it.' And 10 minutes later it was gone. You think to yourself, 'Who else could possibly be looking for that?' But there's always someone else looking for it,” she says, laughing wistfully. Similar stories of losing out due to hesitation are common among seasoned Tucson hands, who have learned to hit the shows early, zoning in on dealers they know carry the material they want - particularly if the material is in demand. For Judith Anderson of Bijou Extraordinaire in Manchester, New Hampshire, the key to not being overwhelmed is to plan ahead. “I'm extremely organized. I go through the Tucson Show Guide and I photocopy the floor plans of the shows and listings of the dealers, and I start highlighting everybody I want to see. Then, as I go through the magazine, if I see photographs [in ads] of what people are carrying, I find out their names and add them to the list,” she says.
Most recommend taking a notebook along and jotting down prices and booth numbers, as well as information on material that interests you. But if all this is starting to sound a little too much like a business trip, it's also a good idea to relax, ask questions, and let things happen. Most dealers are happy to talk about their material, about the trade - about anything. Just ask Kurt Cavano, a corporate banking consultant who describes himself as “an avid rock collector, gemstone enthusiast, lapidary, and amateur jeweler.” For the last six years, he's been traveling to Tucson, picking up cutting equipment and rough, along with mineral specimens to add to his collection. Two years ago, while making the rounds at the American Gem Trade Association show at the Convention Center, he and his friend, fund manager Jim McLachlan, were shooting the breeze with an exhibitor who owned a mine. “I commented to Jim, 'Boy, wouldn't it be great to own a mine!' And the exhibitor said, 'Well, there's one available if you want one,' and he told me about the Four Peaks amethyst mine [east of Phoenix].” He and McLachlan pursued the lead, entered into negotiations with the mine's owner, and by the end of 1997 had purchased the mine, which is now producing amethyst in commercial quantities. At this year's AGTA show, you'll be able to see these finished stones at the booth of Commercial Mineral Company.
Okay, so the vast majority of us attending Tucson will not wind up buying a mine or anything nearly so extravagant. But for Cavano, the same factors are at work no matter your level or means. If gems and jewelry are your passion, you'll more than likely find what you're looking for, and things that you didn't even know you were looking for, along with an enthusiasm that's positively contagious. “I think that if you're not in the business and you come to Tucson a few times, there'll be a strong feeling that you want to be in the business, because it's such an amazing experience.” Visit the Tucson Show Guide for more information! |
