The Babbitt Gallery of Southwestern Native American Jewelry features 100-plus pieces of gem and silver artwork by Rio Grande, Hopi, Navajo and Zuni artisans.Welcome to African Gems & Minerals est. Clark, who established it as a company town for workers at his mines in nearby Jerome.)įor a look at ancient and modern American Indian jewelry, visit the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff.
( Of note: Clarkdale gets its name from "America's Copper King," Senator W. Its 5,000 pieces from around the world represent military art, architecture, kitchenware and drinkware, and distillery equipment. The Arizona Copper Art Museum in Clarkdale, south of Sedona, shows how people have used copper from the 16th century to today. Walk through mine and crystal cave models and see artifacts that detail life during the former mining town's boom era. The Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum, a Smithsonian affiliate, details Bisbee's 19th-century rise as "Queen of the Copper Camps" and its role in the industrialization of America. The collection emphasizes minerals from Arizona and Mexico, but also contains meteorites and minerals from around the world. The Alfie Norville Gem & Mineral Museum displays some 2,000 pieces from its collection of more than 40,000 specimens from its new location in the Historic Pima County Courthouse in Downtown Tucson. He's particularly knowledgeable about Arizona minerals and gemstones, such as Apache tears (a type of obsidian), and carries some rare specimens of the metal that gives his shop its name. He enjoys sharing his vast reserves of knowledge-about gems and minerals-with everyone from newbies to seasoned collectors. John Mediz opened the Copper City Rock Shop in the former mining town of Globe in 1970, but he dates his interest in the earth's bounty back to junior high school (some 70 years ago, give or take). Of the bracelets, earrings and necklaces created by owner David Owen, perhaps most interesting are the intricate silver-and-jasper scenes: everything from ancient desert ruins to Chinese pagodas. Bisbee turquoise, malachite and campbellite (a mixture of copper and other minerals such as azurite, calcite, malachite, pyrite, quartz and others) are among the many striking gemstones used in the unique wearable art you'll find at shops like Jewelry Designs by Owen on Main Street. The search for copper at Bisbee's Lavender Pit Mine also unearthed rich lodes of turquoise that's prized the world over for its brilliant blue color. Its location near the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and Old Tucson makes this a perfect stop on a family outing. Lose yourself for hours among the bins of rocks, fossils and rough-cut gems-more than 100,000 items in all-where geological oddities like fulgurites (root-like formations created when lightning strikes desert sand or soil) cost as little as $10.
Shopping for Arizona gems and minerals Mineral hunting in TucsonĬollectors of all ages, experience levels and budgets flock to Tucson Mineral and Gem World on the city's west side. Kids can safely try their mining skills, too, during this March event that features music, a crafts fair, a carnival and history talks.ĭon't plan to be in Arizona for these shows? You can still shop for earthly treasures year-round, from rare fossils to jewelry made with Arizona's unique gems.
Rounding out spring, the Apache Leap Mining Festival in Superior, east of Phoenix, features grueling miner competitions like sawing, spiking, drilling and mucking for cash prizes.
Gems and minerals professional#
Thousands of vendors, including around 500 rock and mineral dealers, converge on this Western Arizona town for a swap-meet atmosphere where you'll find gems, fossils and jewelry from professional and amateur rock hounds, lapidaries and artisans.Īlso in February, Gold Rush Days salutes Wickenburg's mining and ranching heritage with a weekend of activities that includes gold panning, mining-skills contests and tours of the nearby Vulture Mine ghost town that put the town on the map. Tucson's gem show coincides with another-the popular Desert Gardens Rock, Gem & Mineral Show in Quartzsite in late January.
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