Friday the 26th was a celebration day! Barbera Munytan brought back what had once been my amethyst geode, but which now had become something much more beautiful. What a wonderful job she did! She apologized for not having all the tools she needed to do a 100% satisfactory job on my specimen, but with the time she'd put into it and the incredible results she'd achieved, I was more then happy, thrilled is a better word for sure! The specimen she'd realized was great, just like I'd envisioned it, it was a nice round specimen about the size of a smallish dinner plate that is dominated by that wonderful towering calcite with its complimentary three inch wide amethyst burr all snuggled up tight, right beside it. The edges could stand a bit more finessing, but disregarding that, her work truly realized an awesome specimen! I put it right out on the corner of my work table and just sat back and smiled as person after person inquired if it was for sale. No, I'd smirkingly smile, this one's all mine! BIG SMILE! Thank you Barbera! As a note, it was truly amazing to see how much cement they'd used to both reinforce the geode and to make its base. In the trimmings, it was an impressive amount!
Needing another stroll, I got out during the evening of the 27th and was fortunate to find Ricardo and Claudia Birnie still in their room and willing to let me visit. Ricardo and Claudia have a business called, Agates From Argentina ( http://www.agatesfromargentina.com ) and personally, I found their displays incredible. I'd never before seen agates of such a consistent high quality and told them so many, many times. Proudly, they responded that they'd been told they have the finest agates in all of Tucson and you know what, I'd have to agree! Simply amazing. Ricardo and Claudia themselves are wonderful and gracious people and as I walked away, having spent a good hour or more in their enjoyable company, I truly felt blessed to have had the chance to have shared such a wonderful time. After this, most other rooms were closed for the evening, though I did see a couple of things that were just way too extraordinary, the finest of these were two incredibly beautiful chrysocolla and malachite stalactites from Zaire. One, the largest of the two, was over a foot long, the other for all the world looked like the most awesome ice cream cone any mineral enthusiast could ever wish for. They were spectacular and brightly colored and it was a joy to have had the chance to photograph them!
And then later that night back in Scott's room, check this out, this is a Round Mountain, Nevada gold specimen that Scott's friend Ed was toting around, I was breathless and even more so when I got to hold it myself!
After this, the days began to blur. Tucson is absolutely 100% relentless and when a participant, it's definitely not a place for the faint of heart. To this point and for several days thereafter, I never got to bed before 1:00 a.m. and was always up by 6:00, too much on my mind to sleep. Thankfully the friends that came by each day would literally buoy my spirit and allow me to smile an unending smile filled with joy and laughter. Until Gloria arrived, this was my pattern, thankfully days later when she finally did arrive, she put an end to this nonsense and grabbed me by the ear and forced me to get some precious down time where I could sleep for more then just a handful of hours. What a blessing that was!
During the week that followed, we enjoyed some incredible days of sales and when all was said and done, this would be our finest Tucson yet. One of the exceptional things that allowed this was the sale of an entire six foot display case to one customer. We bounced around a bit during the negotiations until eventually we shook hands and consummated the single largest accumulated mineral sale we've ever had at John Cornish Minerals. With great pride I pulled out a bed sheet and covered the entire six foot case and taped a little sign to it that said, SOLD OUT! Yes, whoo-hoo!
Report continued . . . . . . .
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