Last weekend was one of California's best gem & mineral shows, the West Coast Gem & Mineral Show. It's held twice a year in Spring and Fall and it's free to attend! I've been attending it twice a year now for 4 years and it never disappoints.
This year the event was moved to the Hilton in Costa Mesa Ballrooms. This was a much larger and nicer venue than in the past which was held in the dealers hotel rooms at another hotel. The rooms were cramped and often times uncomfortable when trying to browse the specimens.
While there are a lot of dealers there, there are three are my go to, Dragon Minerals, Sibel Minerals and Earth's Treasures. Each one is a specialist in certain fields and their prices are very good. Also, they like to talk so it's good to stop by and shoot the shit about what's been happening.
Earth's Treasures is run by a guy named Rick Kennedy shown in the photo above. Rick is one of the top 3 benitoite dealers in the world. He has been collecting benitoite since the 1980's and has some of the world's best pieces. He helped me out a lot when I first started collecting benitoite. He sold me small pieces of rough that I learned to etched with and found some amazing benitoite specimens in the process. His prices are always fair and he always gives discounts.
Two years ago Rick found a large strike of smokey quartz & scepters in Northern California shown below
Sibel Minerals is a retired geologist and his wife who say over the years selling pink halite has paid for their house! His collection is very diverse and pretty spectacular. Every year his glass cases contain several minerals over valued at over $5,000 each. It's his keystone minerals that always have me coming back though. Keystone is gem collector speak for 50% off. He always has some benitoite, turquoise nuggets and California minerals.
He has a red beryl that I would like to buy, but I don't have an extra $10,000 right now...
Dragon Minerals is run by Steve and his wife. Another geologist, Steve is also a university professor. He is one of the best dealers at the show. His prices are the best, his selection is huge and he is very knowledgeable, he taught me the difference between canvasite and pentagonite. When I am looking for gems & minerals that I am going to resell he always has what I need, tourmalines, all beryls, benitoite, local and foreign minerals.
This year he had some great Himalaya Mine tourmalines and some newly found, amazing fluorite from England
Here are a few of the other specimens I bought.
Benitoite, Neptunite & Joaquinite.
Himalaya Mine Pink Tourmaline.
Linarite, I know my thumbnail is dirty!
Turquoise, high grade.
And a whole flat of these beautiful, gemmy amethyst geodes.
In closing I'll leave you with two shots of beautiful emeralds.
As I mentioned the show is held in spring, May, and fall, November. If you are in Southern California it is definitely worth checking out. The website is here: https://www.mzexpos.com/west-coast-fall
I'll be taking next Monday off since I will be on an airplane back to Japan. I'll be going to the Tokyo Gem and Mineral show so stay tuned for a report on it!
Thanks for reading!
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