Colorful displays and rare finds highlight a week-long celebration of earth science.
Unusual sightings gave spice to this visit.

DENVER, CO. — Incredible mineral specimens, fine gemstones and fossil specimens filled the exhibition floors from early to mid-September as visitors stopped to browse, buy, and talk with collectors and vendors at the Hard Rock Summit gem and mineral show.

The Denver shows bring together gemstone and mineral buyers, rockhounds, jewelry makers, lapidary artists and science enthusiasts for a showcase of gems, minerals, fossils, beads and handcrafted pieces. Vendors featured everything from tumbled stones and geodes to exquisite mineral specimens and fine gemstones.  There were educational programs and various displays from museums and private collectors.

Organizers designed the show to be both a marketplace and a learning opportunity. Visitors and buyers were a plenty, and every vendor we asked stated that they were very happy with the traffic, having better results than expected.

Are you looking at me?
Photo by Bear WIlliams

Colorado

An early morning walk in Denver may find you face to face with the ubiquitous prairie dog.  With wagging tails and chirping barks, they tend to win you over, although with their extensive numbers, the locals would have been happy to send a few back home with us.

You never know what other critters you might bump into at the shows, but it is always a pleasure to see our fellow rabbit friends John and Kristi Koivula.

Cara Williams (left) with John and Kristi Koivula. John Koivula, Chief Gemologist at GIA in Carlsbad, California, is the author of Photoatlas of Inclusions in Gemstones.
Photo by Bear Williams
46.27 cts. Sweet Home, Colorado Rhodochrosite
Photos by Bear Williams

The Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado has the wonderful Museum of Earth Science that you can visit in Golden. At the Hard Rock Summit they also had a lively showcase of Red, White and Blue stones (in celebration of the 250th). The gems and minerals in this display are from their collections – and all found in Colorado, including this intense 46.27 carat rhodochrosite from the Sweet Home mine.

We were looking forward to having dinner with Renata Lafler, the Executive Director of the Mines Museum, but on the first day of the show, someone rear ended her on the way home and totaled her vehicle. A friend picked her up from hospital to take her home, and as luck would have it, they got into another accident on the way home. Bruised and banged up a bit, but she’ll be fine. Don’t buy a lotto ticket on that day, Renata… but always keep doing the fabulous work you do at the museum.

Some of the many dendritic agates on display.

4.50 cts. dendritic Emerald. Country of origin not yet determined.

From the House of Indus.
Photo by Bear Williams.

 Inside the Gemstone part of the main show gem dealer Tarub Adlaka of House of Indus exhibited an extensive collection of dendritic agates, lending his display an art gallery feeling. And it was not just agates – a rare dendritic faceted emerald also caught our eye.

Spodumene, var. Kunzite.
Photo by Bear Williams

Christopher Clark at Collectors Edge showed us some incredible mineral specimens. From Afghanistan, a Kunzite crystal high-rise that takes one’s breath away approaching 1 and a half feet in height!

Morganite.
Photo by Bear Williams

Many kilos of Morganite in this crystal specimen.

Calcites.
Photo by Bear Williams

  Another showcase housed some very large pink calcite crystals from the Empire State Mine in New York State.

175.10 carats, faceted Calcite!
Photo by Bear Williams

And speaking of calcite crystals, it is unusual to facet calcite because of its cleavage nature. But at the Miner’s Co-op Mineral show, mineral dealer Mike Walter at Geologic Desires showed us some of the same calcite material from New York, but faceted and weighing 175.10 carats. The material was mined in 2022.


RZ Mouse
Photo by Bear Williams

What’s not to love about a Ruby/Zoisite mouse with an 18K tail? This was an older carving by Gerd Dreher from a private collection on display.

A turquoise jawbone.
Courtesy of Kevin Downey, of Well-Arranged Molecules.
Photo by Bear Williams

Would you believe the jawbone of a marmot that morphed into turquoise? This was seen at Kevin Downey’s booth, Well-Arranged Molecules. Great name for a mineral dealer and such exquisitely preserved detail!

At one of the educational talks, Professor Markus Raschke from the University of Colorado Boulder, spoke on the topic:  “An Ocean Within – Water in Minerals”   Incredible to find out that it’s estimated to be three times more water locked up inside minerals under the earth, than there is water in all the oceans.

By the end of the weekend, the show had become more than a shopping stop. It offered a reminder that natural history can be found with friends… in dazzling colors, tiny details and shared curiosity — one stone at a time.

About the Authors
Cara and Bear Williams are the owners of Bear Essentials, a wholesale colored gemstone business, and Stone Group Laboratories, located in Jefferson City, Missouri. Both are longtime members of the gem and jewelry industry and have authored numerous articles and research reports on colored gemstones and gem identification.

Cara Williams, FGA, is a Fellow of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain and has served for more than 15 years as a tutor for Gem-A’s Diploma in Gemmology course. She has worked in the wholesale colored gemstone trade since 1986.

Bear Williams, CG, FGA (Hon), is president and laboratory director of Stone Group Laboratories, specializing in advanced gemological testing and spectroscopy. He has traveled extensively to gem-producing regions for research and has served on the AGTA Board of Directors and as co-chair of the Gemological Industry and Laboratory Conference (GILC).