Once a year, during the month of February, the small city of Tucson in the US state of Arizona becomes a vast bazaar of gems, fossils, geodes, and just about everything under the desert sun you can imagine.
Looking for fossilised bamboo? A tabletop of made of rare petrified wood? Two-metre high geodes from Brazil? Dinosaur eggs? Meteorites? Facetted gems? Finished jewellery? Unusual minerals? Look no further. The Tucson Gem Show has it all and more, with prices ranging from a few cents to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In reality, however, it is not one show, but around 45 fairs of all sizes spread across the city. Large tents, hotel rooms, and sprawling roadside exhibits make this February gathering a must-attend for tens of thousands of visitors from the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Many shows are open to the public while others are reserved for the trade, including the two largest—AGTA GemFair™, in the Tucson Convention Centre, and GJX, located in an enormous temporary tent across the street.
Opening under sunny skies on 3 February, the AGTA GemFair™ attracted record numbers of buyers—retailers, jewellery designers, museum curators, and collectors—who lined up to participate in the world’s biggest six-day treasure hunt for gemstone buys, bargains, and bragging rights. “It was a fantastic opening and set the tone for an outstanding week,” commented Douglas K Hucker, CEO of AGTA.
The selection at AGTA and GJX was vast, with something for every taste and budget. Some dealers, such as Germany-based Constantin Wild indicated that their bestselling gems were large fine quality stones of all types. At other price points, certain trends seemed to be evident.
Going green
Green tourmaline and tsavorite were among the favoured gems in Tucson. “The demand for green tourmaline is high at the right prices,” explained Marcelo Bernardes of Brazilian dealer, Manoel Bernardes, “but supplies are difficult to come by,” adding that Asian buyers were in full force the first two days of the show, followed by US retailers, manufacturers, and TV shopping networks.
The same sentiment was echoed by Carl Larsen at US-based Pala International: “We have many requests from Asian buyers for green tourmaline, but it is in short supply.” Bella Campbell of Kaiser Gems, agreed: “Green tourmalines are hot now because the supply is so low.”
Shimmering green cat’s-eye tourmaline was seen at Brazil-based Tavares Gems. “Many Chinese and Japanese buyers appreciate cat’s-eyes,” said Osorio Tavares Filho, and “our yellow cabochons sold out within the first two days”.
Tsavorite, on the other hand, seemed to be readily available and buyers took advantage of this. “The first day of the show was our best ever,” smiled Bruce Bridges, of US-based Bridges Tsavorite, and son of tsavorite’s discoverer, Campbell Bridges. “Most sales were in the bread-and-butter range of 0.5 to 3 carats”, with buyers mainly from the United States. At Philip Zahm Designs, Mark Davis stated that tsavorites in the 4 to 5-carat range attracted a lot of attention, again mostly from US buyers.
Warming it up
Pink was highly requested, with tourmaline, rubellite, spinel, and morganite topping the list. “Some of our bestsellers are morganite and rubellite, in good qualities,” adds Marcelo Bernardes. Kalim Korey, of US-based Caroline C, also experienced a high demand for pink tourmaline but added: “Spinel is getting really hot, too, especially the pink and red varieties, and is requested by many of our Asian clients.” Carl Larsen also reported that spinel sold well, “especially pink, red, purple, and orange.”
Niveet Nagpal, VP at Omi Gems, agreed that the hottest spinels are red, pink, and purple, in the 2 to 5-carat range. “They are somewhat undervalued, so prices are still reasonable.” He noted that fancy sapphires, especially peach padparascha, were highly sought after, in sizes of 3 to 35 carats. Most buyers were from China and Japan, with a few from Australia.
Tim Roark, of US-based Tim Roark, Inc, was happy with his sales of rubellite, pink tourmaline, and rhodolite, as well as other pink to red garnets, “in 3 carats and larger, many purchased by Asian buyers.” Pink spinel sold well in sizes of 2 to 5 carats, according to Mark Davis, adding that they also had some demand for pink sapphire.
“Rubellite, sourced from Nigeria, was a good seller,” declared Kate Farnsworth of US-based Parlé, who lamented that “higher qualities are becoming harder and harder to find.” Bella Campbell echoed this sentiment, and added, however, that morganite was available and selling well.
In the orange end of the warm spectrum, fire opal was seen to be rising in popularity and price. Clement Sabbagh of Brazil-based Ben Sabbagh Bros, stated that the orange stone was becoming more popular with Chinese buyers as they learn about the gem.
Wearing the blues
While green and pink may have been bestsellers, the blue tones, especially the neon shades of Paraiba tourmaline were in demand. No one knows this better than Sebastian Ferreira, director of Brazil Paraiba Mine, the only major source left in Brazil for the popular gems, named for the state in which they were originally found. He offered Brazilian Paraibas, ranging from melee to 5 carats as well as carved pieces. Other dealers also offered some Brazilian stones, but most Paraibas were from Mozambique, such as those at Manoel Bernardes, in nicely cut sizes ranging from 0.5 to 4 carats. Kalim Korey declared that Paraiba does quite well in all sizes.
Opal was in abundance at the shows, from Ethiopian gems to the darker boulder varieties. “Boulder opal is an ‘opportunity’ stone that is ‘unshoppable’ in terms of price because each piece is unique and natural,” stated Kate Farnsworth, happy with their sales. James Breski, of his eponymous brand, indicated that Ethiopian opals remained strong during the show, while “tanzanite was also a good seller”. Tanzanite specialist, US-based AG Color, showcased a variety of sizes, shapes, and cuts at its booth at GJX. Hemant Sanjay, director, stated that cabochons were extremely popular with buyers from all over, although facetted stones did well.
Still in the opal category, Australia-based Cody Opals featured a variety of beautiful stones, including a collection of Koroit opal. “This has been a really hot product,” said Andrew Cody, director. “Koroit is boulder opal in matrix and opalised wood that provides a unique combination of patterns and veins.”
Turquoise was a perennial participant at the shows, and could be seen in shades ranging from marbled green to bright blue. Elena Druker, designer for Drukker Designs, who exhibited in the jewellery section of AGTA stated that her turquoise pieces were well appreciated as was her blue topaz jewellery.
Unusual finds
Among the more unusual gems at the show were trapiche sapphires at Thailand-based Primagems. Director Jeffery Bergman explained that the gem gets its name from the hexagonal structure that is reminiscent of the six-spoke Spanish wheel used to crush sugarcane.
Another lovely find was at the booth of Gem Art Center, where designer/artist Helen Serras-Herman featured a colourful pendant made of azurite and malachite.
The world’s largest Csarite®, a 121.65-carat pear-shaped gem, was displayed at GJX, and is the focal point of a new jewellery line by Erica Courtney.
Overall, just about all gemstones could be found at the Tucson shows, and while some trends were apparent, there was truly something for everyone.
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