Monday, April 30, 2007

Monday in Salinas, Kansas

I've been an Airstreamer for about ten days now--so far so good!

I'm en route from Denver to St. Louis where I'll see my sister Marcia and her family, then on to Ohio and a show in Cincinnati this weekend.

This past weekend was the Colorado Mineral and Fossil Show in Denver where I had a room. That show is at a Holiday Inn. You get a regular hotel room and set up shop there. There were approximately sixty of us dealers there. It was a slow show, that was the consensus from all the dealers.

I bought some fantastic things from other dealers who have good sources. These include various cabochons (gemstones cut in ovals or circles and polished, but not faceted) including cabs cut from high quality turquoise, fossilized dinosaur bones, fossilized palm wood, and Mexican crazy lace agate. These are pricey little stones but gorgeous and they will make beautiful pieces of jewelry.

Some of the turquoise is from a mine in Leadville, Colorado that has been closed since about 1970. This turquoise is almost impossible to find--it came from an old collection that was in storage for years. I love it! I have a strong personal affinity for Leadville where I spent time in 1988. It's the highest incorporated town in the U.S. at 10,152 feet. I also bought some Cripple Creek Turquoise. This is beautiful too. It's still being mined today but is expensive and hard to find. I got it from a gentleman who sells it straight from the mine.

I also met a few meteorite collectors and added to my meteorite inventory. There is nothing quite like a rock from outer space. I now have some Martian and lunar meteorites. How cool is that? They are tiny, tiny, but they're the real thing.

From a campground in Salinas, Kansas, with Jake (my pup) by my side on a beautiful spring evening,

Jim