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Acres of gems, minerals, beads, fossils, jewelry, tools, and equipment are exhibited in Tucson every winter. Some of the goodies that intrigued the rise in supply were precious supply from Honduras, diffusion-treated star sapphires, manmade jewelry, and blue goldsmith beads.

New kinds of beautiful, economically priced beads on the gem market are increasing at an astonishing rate. Explanations intended to aid newcomers to the gem world in understanding a few basics related to some quartz and quartz like beads on the market are discussed.

The news of the 2003 Tucson shows of jewelry was good, where most of the dealers reported better sales than they'd anticipated. The talk of the gem shows was a continuation of the controversy over certain treated sapphires that were the cause of much speculation in 2002 shows.

The material filled with little, solid, lustrous specks that reflect light are called aventurine and when a piece of aventurine was moved, all those little reflections produce a glittering effect that is known as 'aventurescence' in the gem trade. The aventurine glass was first made in a glass making concern in Italy and the green aventurine from India is a metamorphic rock called quartzite formed by heat & pressure from a fairly pure sand stone.

A dendrite is something that forms in a treelike pattern. 16 queries regarding the stones having dendritic patterns in chalcedony and other related ones are presented.

Rose quartz makes a beautiful carving material and a lovely cabochon gem. Rose quartz forms in complex pegmatities, either near the core zone or as massive hydrothermal veins.

There were no major trends apparent at the 2001 gem and mineral shows in Tucson, AZ. Important smaller trends included continuing availability of orbicular jasper from Madagascar, artistic use of Montana agate and new Japan-Law twin quartz crystals.

Munsteiner is a world-famous pioneering gem artist inspires students who try to apply his advice that artists should 'recognize chance and eliminate the arbitrary.'

Lace agates, which have intricately curved, lacy-looking patterns, are found primarily in Namibia and Mexico. Information is presented on the formation of crazy lace and blue lace agate and on dyeing agates.

Questions and answers about the shiny volcanic glass called obsidian are presented. Topics covered include snowflakes, crystallization, sources and use in jewelry making.

Bloodstone is a red-speckled green jasper that is called heliotrope in Britain. Information on buying the gem, hunting for it in North America and using it in jewelry is presented.

Ten unusual gemstones found at a trade show in Tucson, AZ, included orbicular jasper, hauyne, gem beads, yellow Nevada opal and a large red diamond found in Australia. Other stones are described.

A visit to the 1999 Intergem jewelry show in Idar-Oberstein, Germany is described. The town is actually two villages, one specializing in gem cutting, the other in jewelry making.

Superb blue, greenish blue and green all-natural turquoise is found in the Bad Boys mine at Cripple Creek, Colorado, high up in the Rockies.

Answers to 12 frequently asked questions about citrine are presented. The answers cover the difference between citrine and topaz, citrine's natural color, its affordability and fake citrines.

The German town of Idar-Oberstein has a tradition of gemstone cutting that produces some of the most uniform and well-made beads available. A history of the Idar bead industry and its involvement in the African bead trade is presented.

Questions-and-aswers about the hollow rocks called geodes are presented. The questions cover amethyst cathedrals, Brazilian geodes, coco, coconuts and determining whether an uopened geode will be hollow.

Amethyst provides jewelers numerous combinations of sizes, shapes, shades and depths of color to choose from. Its low price affords jewelers a variety of cuts. There is also more freedom when choosing an amethyst as compared to diamonds.