Recent News
1) Spring 2013 class schedule available HERE
2) Tuesday, June 4th Meeting
?The largest gem show in the world is held each February in Tucson, Arizona. Tucson is
really not one show, but rather, an experience. Held across much of the city , the show features some 40+ venues. Promoters rent vacant lots, entire motels or set up huge tents; then rent every possible room or space to individual dealers.
Fortunately, each venue tends to specialize in one or two areas of interest. If you want to see beads, you visit the venues featuring bead dealers. If you want minerals, you visit the hotels where the jewelry dealers set up their rooms, etc. Fortunately, The Tucson Show Guide, available free of charge at all the venues, lists the dealers present at each location. You pick up the guide and then plan your adventure based on your interests.
The culminating activity is the show sponsored by the local club - the Tucson Gem & Mineral Society (TGMS). Celebrating it’s 60th year in 2014, this show is what spawned the rest of the “circus”
and is the only one where admission is charged. There are almost 200 retail dealers, with about
half selling jewelry and the other half minerals. In addition, there are a variety of talks, a banquet, and auction. Scattered throughout the huge convention center are approximately 100 jaw dropping
displays. Many highlight the theme for the show while others are just fabulous in their own right. We’ll view some of these during the program.
If you’ve never been to Tucson, during the first two weeks of February, our program will give you an opportunity to see some of what we consider the highlights from the past several years of shows.
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