All, Rockazona was an outside rock and gem show in the desert of
Arizona. Last year the show promoters closed the show. A new show
opened up in Tempe, Arizona and this weekend was the first show.
The show had only about 125 dealers and it had broke the tradition
of rock shows being just rocks and jewelry. There were several
booths of swap mart items and other none lapidary related items.
The good news was the rocks. Many rare items were for sale that
have not been offered for years. A friend of mine that deals in gem
silica bought a fantastic piece of gem blue silica from the
Inspiration Mine. It was very pricey, but rarer than any of the
finest diamonds. I found my own little treasure. One booth was
selling slabs of fortification agate mined years ago in the 4th of
July Mountain region of Arizona. These slabs were 3-4inches across
and had no flaws. Needless to say I bought a lot. I also purchased
several lots of good hard fossils from Wyoming. Turritella and
Oolite, fossil snails and algae, are quite popular in Europe and
Central America. This material is hard enough to create nice
Artists stones to set in gold. Overall I had a good time. Lots of
rare material available. The prices were extremely good. One last
note. Three gemstone and rough facetting material dealers that deal
at Tucson were dealing at the show. Two of the dealers were GJX
dealers and one was a 4 Points Hotel dealer. Just take a guess how
their items were priced. The same as they would sell to jewelers is
the answer.
Gerry Galarneau