Feb. 22, 2008 Nina returns from 2008 Tucson Gem Show Classes and shows on all things related to Gems Nina learned that Tucson is dryer than Hawaii and gems can be way larger than she ever imagined during a wonderful trip to the National Tucson Gem Show. For 2008, according to the Tucson trade bureau, there will be as many as 50 “shows” – a term used when describing sites set up specifically for multiple vendors. There are also numerous other “shows” that are actually places around the desert city where people sell and exchange. I’ve bought excellent rough for cutting literally on street corners —well, on blankets on street corners. Many people also do their own trade in their private hotel rooms or from the trunk of the car. You can while away several afternoons wandering from open motel room to open motel room and purchase anything from polished cabs to top-quality mineral specimens displayed on every available flat surface – bedspreads included. It’s the place to see the cutting edge, gauge the competition, find the rare, buy at true wholesale, be entertained with tales both true and false and learn and learn and learn. For those either in the jewelry business or otherwise fascinated about rocks, things related, or people who live with those things, this mélange of happenings is widely considered the center of the universe.
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