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31th October 2017 by Mike Petrov
A little bit late, but here is a review with some pictures from the Denver gem and mineral show, September 2017
Well, its fair to say that its been the busiest summer and fall, that we, The Russian Stone team, has ever had. Within three months, we had the Bancroft gem and mineral show, we visited the world famous Pyrite mines in Navajun Spain, went to Denver for the big gem and mineral show, as well as visited Munich gem and mineral show in Germany. This is a quick review of the Denver gem show, which, some will argue is the second larest gem and mineral show in the Americas after Tucson.
Here is Elena saying hello to the friendly T-Rex at the main show
Mike looking at a map of Bolivia, for exact locations of Cassiterites, Vivianites, Sphalerites, and an old pocket of Proustites from 150 years ago.
Mike with Steve Ulatkowski from New Era Gems, also known as the Tanzanite king. We acquired our biggest collection of Tanzanites ever, available at our gallery and online soon.
Elena hiding behind Tanzanites, Spessartines and Tourmalines
Newly discovered blue cap Tourmaline crystals from Tanzania. Very pretty with a brown body and a blue cap.
Some delicious looking Malachite with Chrysocola polished pieces straight from DRC - Congo, historically known as Zaire.
Garnet, Granite...whats the difference, its all $50/kg. Here are some unusual black Melanite garnets from Mali.
Here is something you don't see every day, or even every year! An extremely rare Hexagonite crystal, a rare variety of Tremolite from New York State. Courtesy of Vance Gems.
Elena sorting through Silver Jewelry - so many colors, so many choices
Lowest quality Tanzanite, only $150/kg, note the buckets to the left of the table. Each one with 100kg of Tanzanite. So doing the math, you can get yourself a tonne of Tanzanite for only $150,000. Maybe they offer discounts on per-tonne bases ... ha ha
Some beautiful Turquoise, look at these colors. Not sure if there is a yummier color in the gem world!
Ok maybe there is a yummier color...Tourmaline. Known as a chemical dogs breakfast in the gem world, the gem with a very complex chemical composition, which is the reason for the huge array of colors. Here are some beautiful pinks, reds, greens and some blues from Brazil.
The selection of Quartz is never disappointing from the Brazilian dealers. One of many tables at the show. Clusters, Lemurians, Spheres, Pyramids, Merkabas, Voguls, Tumbles, anything you are after, they will make it for you.
Although these have been around for a few years, noone has ever brought such an extensive selection of these as Luiz here. Beautiful deep colors and great shapes, we have a big selection of these available at our gallery. Took couple hours to sort through all of them to pick out the prettiest ones.
Another delicious gemstone - Tanzanite!! Beautiful intense colors.
Elena looking through newly made Jewelry from Indonesia, behind some massive newly found (in 2015) Grape Agates from Indonesia as well
Wonderful collection of Silver specimens from all over the world. You can see the reflection of Valeri taking the picture.
Taking bets now for next years rematch between Valeri the vicious geologist vs. T-Rex the monster with tiny hands
Mike looking through gems in the background of some massive Brazilian Rose Quartz flames
Mike and Elena beside beautiful pictures made from Zoomed in microscope pictures of various gemstones
Pretty interesting new method of cutting Diamonds along the crystal, kind of like bread, into pieces thinner than hair. Each of those pieces is a fraction of a carat but looks massive - quite genius if you ask me.
Looks like Amber, feels like Amber...but something is not right, does the price give it away? As always the show is filled with fakes and counterfeits.
Incredible Tanzanite cut stones and crystals at the Arkenstone display
Of course when visiting the Mariott, you can leave your wallet at home and come and drool over specimens like these, stones that museums cant even afford
This was the face of the show this year, a perfect Aquamarine crystal with a 90 degree penetrating crystal from Pakistan. Courtesy of Rob Lavinsky.
Chrysocola growing out of a Malachite matrix. How is Mother Earth so creative??
More stunning specimens. You can imagine why the price tag on each one says "P.O.R" - price on request
On the 2500km drive home, we got this surpirse attack from the sky in Nebraska. Golf-ball sized Hail like getting show at by a machine gun over the metal roof of the cargo van. I've never seen ones this size, to our luck the windshield did not get damaged.
Thank you Denver, see you next year!!
Elena, Mike and Valeri Petrov
The Russian Stone
