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Bronze Member
Find treasures - and treasure maps - at gem show
Srianthi Perera
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 4, 2008 12:00 AM
Three original 19th-century Peralta stone-tablet treasure maps will vie for attention with more than 80 dealers of minerals, fossils, gems and lapidary materials at the Flagg Gem and Mineral Show today through Sunday at Mesa Community College.
The rarely seen maps are owned by the Arizona Mineral and Mining Museum Foundation, which is sponsoring the show with the college's Geology Club.
The real stars of the show, however, are the gems and minerals for sale.
"It's a great place for people who are getting interested in starting a collection," said Mardy Zimmermann of the Arizona Leaverites, a mineral- and gemstone-collecting club.
In its 36th year, the open-air event is a swap-meet-style show laid out in the college parking lot, where hobbyists, beginning collectors and dealers come together. It's the signature fundraiser for the non-profit Arizona Mineral and Mining Museum Foundation.
Visitors can get information on clubs and organizations, such as Mineralogical Society of Arizona, Maricopa Lapidary Society and Apache Junction Gem and Mineral Club. Also available will be details on what's legal to collect and where to go collecting.
Kids and budding geologists will receive an introduction to geology, too.
Each year, Zimmermann organizes the "egg-crate project." Kids can choose 12 samples and place them in an egg crate as a starter collection. The $1 cost is donated to the museum to fund youth projects. Last year, about 800 egg crates of minerals were sold.
Labels are provided for the specimens, making the collection "scientific" for children.
Organizer Raymond Grant deems mineral collecting a "good hobby" in an age when computer games provide indoor sedentary entertainment.
"People are cut off from nature, but we are outside a lot," he said.
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Srianthi Perera
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 4, 2008 12:00 AM
Three original 19th-century Peralta stone-tablet treasure maps will vie for attention with more than 80 dealers of minerals, fossils, gems and lapidary materials at the Flagg Gem and Mineral Show today through Sunday at Mesa Community College.
The rarely seen maps are owned by the Arizona Mineral and Mining Museum Foundation, which is sponsoring the show with the college's Geology Club.
The real stars of the show, however, are the gems and minerals for sale.
"It's a great place for people who are getting interested in starting a collection," said Mardy Zimmermann of the Arizona Leaverites, a mineral- and gemstone-collecting club.
In its 36th year, the open-air event is a swap-meet-style show laid out in the college parking lot, where hobbyists, beginning collectors and dealers come together. It's the signature fundraiser for the non-profit Arizona Mineral and Mining Museum Foundation.
Visitors can get information on clubs and organizations, such as Mineralogical Society of Arizona, Maricopa Lapidary Society and Apache Junction Gem and Mineral Club. Also available will be details on what's legal to collect and where to go collecting.
Kids and budding geologists will receive an introduction to geology, too.
Each year, Zimmermann organizes the "egg-crate project." Kids can choose 12 samples and place them in an egg crate as a starter collection. The $1 cost is donated to the museum to fund youth projects. Last year, about 800 egg crates of minerals were sold.
Labels are provided for the specimens, making the collection "scientific" for children.
Organizer Raymond Grant deems mineral collecting a "good hobby" in an age when computer games provide indoor sedentary entertainment.
"People are cut off from nature, but we are outside a lot," he said.
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