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We have been predominately a show dealer for decades, but shows seem to be declining in importance, so we also have our Colorado showroom available by appointment when we are in town. We have our website, but not checkout carts and such because we enjoy the personal contact that talking to our customers provides. We expect to make some change with that during 2024. I'll be working on improving my internet presence to compensate for less time on the road

With the advent of year-round showroom facilitates in Tucson we now offer you another shopping opportunity. Our Graeber & Himes showroom at the Tucson Fine Mineral Gallery is now open all year. When we are not there, our inventory is managed by the knowledgeable staff of Crystal Classics. The building is open Monday through Friday from 10 AM until 4 PM. When you enter you will be greeted by an attendant who can show you any of the several rooms that are available and assist you with purchases. Enjoy looking through our cases. We restock each time we are in Tucson including January, March, May, and November. For travelers to the Southwest, we have enlarged the number of specimens for Arizona, New Mexico and Mexico.

Tucson is truly the nation's Mineral Specimen Destination! While you are there for a Gallery visit, be sure to walk or drive to the Alfie Museum, there is more about it below. We welcome visitors to the Gallery to contact us directly to learn about additional specimens for sale.

Leonard Himes Dealer in Fine Mineral Specimens

A Good Read

You probably know Heritage Auctions as a major source of fine minerals at their Natural History Auctions in Dallas. They also publish very useful internet magazine named The Intelligent Collector. It covers all manner of collectables and has good advice for collectors in general. The current issue has an article security for your collection. I recommend it to you. Check it out at https://intelligentcollector.com/safeguarding-your-collection. You might even want to subscribe to it and their auction catalogs are great way to learn about specimen values.

FIFTY YEARS IS ENOUGH IS MY OFFICIAL THEME FOR 2024

In the summer of 1973 a new dealer was allowed to have a table in the booth of the late Joe Tenhagen, a Miami, FL gemologist friend and specialist in Colombian emeralds at the AFMS National Show in Charlotte, NC. That dealer was Minerals America, it was a fledgling start up in Orlando. We (Leonard and then-wife Bobbie) had a good time, learned how shows worked, and made a few dollars. Our first show alone under the Minerals America name was in Opalika, Alabama the following year. When you are the new kid in the business, you start where you can, but we were appreciated so much by collectors there that we participated in that show for many years. We expanded slowly with Florida shows that would invite us, but soon grew into a well known business in Florida and the Southeast. Eventually, we were booking AFMS national and regional shows during summer breaks from teaching. We started Tucson in the famous Desert Inn with Cal Graeber on the mezzanine; it took a long wait in line until we were in the Tucson main show. The Minerals America name and much inventory's was sold to Michael Jacob in the early 2000s. From then on the business was named Leonard Himes and Colorado based, although I also continued working with Cal as Graeber & Himes in Tucson.

So, 2024 represents my fiftieth year as a show dealer. It has been a great run. I've handled some wonderful specimens, met even more wonderful people, and dug minerals in some famous localities. But, I have to admit to being old enough that it is time to slow down, so 2024 will be my last year with my current schedule. It is already a lot smaller schedule than the 18 shows per year I had in the earlier 2000s. I'll be commenting on some of my show history through out this year. So check back now an then to learn more about them. I suspect that by 2025, my only shows will be somewhere in Tucson and Colorado..

Besides the shows in Tucson and great attractions like the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, Aircraft Museum, and Performing Art Center, Tucson is now the home of a world-class mineral museum. There has long been a fine collection on the campus of the University of Arizona as part of the Geology Department, but as of 2022, the all new Alfie Norville University of Arizona Mineral Museum opened. The Museum is housed in the most beautiful building in downtown Tucson. It was formerly the County Courthouse, but has been completely remodeled inside to become a museum and a separate Environmental Center. The Museum has became a full Department of the University and has secure funding for the future (but will still appreciate your financial support). The museum is now complete and offering daily visits.

The Alfie,as it is known, has special events, so be sure to subscribe to their calendar. Below is a just a sample event.

This page features Show Reports, Travel Notes, and other Items of Interest as they strike my fancy.

Something else to make a trip to Tucson worthwhile.

Today is October 26, 2024. It is a sad day for Linda and me personally and for the world of minerals in general. Our dear friend Guenther Neumeier unexpectedly passed away in his sleep last night while visiting his sister in Munich, Germany where he was attending the world's second most important mineral show. Guenther had just learned that his application for American citizenship had just been approved. He had lived in the US for over twenty years and his son Cory (now at the U of Colorado) was born here. Guenther had come to the US as the representative of Lapis the German mineral magazine and married here during that time. He was a talented editor and was, at one time, working at the Mineralogical Record with the expectation that he would eventually follow the current editor-in-chief. He helped numerous authors bring their magazine articles and books to press. Most recently he was employed by the estate of Rock Currier handling the sales of Rock's collection at La Fuente of Minerals in Tucson. Guenther worked for me on advertising and assisted at shows. He traveled with me across country in my motorhome and enjoyed seeing parts of America that were off the freeways. Guenther was a great cook and a fun house guest when he came to Colorado to visit Cory. He was truly a nice and interesting human being. I feel that I have lost a brother. The following phot was posted by someone from the Munich show this week. I think is the perfect way to remember him. Thanks to whomever took it.

Museum From Parking Garage Vistors in the Museum Gallery

The Graeber & Himes room as we left it for your enjoyment.

More on Museums, December 2023

We Love Mineral Museums, so this Fall we made a pilgrimage to see two of my favorites. Our first stop was in New York City to see the recently renovated American Museum of Natural History's Hall of Minerals. As a kid I had the opportunity to learn about minerals there while bending over the classic cases and even asking docents and curators question about them. I recall buying a set of minerals illustrating the crystal system from the Gift Shop. As a young adult in the 1960's I was able to visit the then new hall which had much flasher exhibits, but I missed seeing more of the science. This new renovation got the balance of flash and science right. I congratulate George Harlow and his associates for this difficult accomplishment.

Following our pleasant visit to NYC, where we saw Wicked on Broadway (my choice for best musical ever!), we caught a train to Boston where we rented a car and relaxed for a few days in the New Hampshire countryside and then made the short drive to Bethel, ME. I had the privilege of visiting the Maine Museum of Minerals and Gems twice during its construction and even prepared some of the specimens now on display. But, I had not seen the completed project. I'm here to tell you, they got this one right, too! Under the watchful eye of cofounders Larry Stifler and Mary McFadden who are major supporters of conserving Maines natural beauty and with the hard work of Barbra Barrett, the first director, and science advice from Carl Francis (now curator) and Skip Simmons and a dedicated staff, they built an exemplary small museum with a focus. Actually,there are two foci, as the Stiffler collection of worldwide meteorites is an impressive part of the museum. Not only are there superb mineral specimens in the mineral galleries, but the people who found them and developed the pegmatite region of Maine are honored for their work, an unusual aspect for a museum. If you love minerals, you owe it to yourself to visit Bethel and museum. The displays are spectacular and many feature cut tourmaline stones and jewelry using them. Mt. Mica was the first gem locality in the US and is still producing 150 years later. I was surprised to learn how many mineral provinces exit in Maine and saw fine specimens I had no idea could come from there. As a teacher, I was pleased to find accessible drawers of specimens from many sttaes and a separated section of drawers showing the product of many Maine localities. I would have been a happy kid opening each drawer to learn, much as I had viewed the old AMNH cases in NYC.

I'm pleased to have been asked to serve on an advisory committee for the renovation of the Denver Museum of Natural Science. As the precess develops, I'll post details.

More about Tucson

If you have made it this far, I'm impressed. I hope you find the blog interesting.

The Chamber of Commerce in Tucson commissioned an economic survey of the 2019 Tucson Gem, Mineral & Fossil Showcase Expenditures.

Here are some of the findings.

They estimate a total of $131,426,030 in direct expenditures resulting from the 2019 Tucson Gem, Mineral & Fossil Showcase. Lodging is the largest individual expenditure category ($45,831,096) – followed by Food & Beverage ($27,154,625).

Out-of-town Buyers traveled to Tucson from 42 different states (as well as Puerto Rico) and 17 foreign countries. Exhibitors traveled from 45 states (including the District of Columbia) and 42 foreign countries.

The 2019 Showcase encompassed 48 individual shows and an estimated 4,882 Exhibitors. The 2019 total gate attendance was estimated to include 457,259 Buyers, each of whom visited 6.97 shows (on average) – for a projected attendance of 65,604 unique persons.

Fully 99% of Buyers purchased one or more items on-site at the shows, most often Gems/Jewelry and/or Rocks/Minerals/Fossils. Among international Buyers, two-thirds report cumulative on-site purchases in excess of $10,000.

They estimated that $13,028,205 in local taxes (including sales, bed and rental car taxes) were paid on $122,866,042 of taxable expenditures made by Owners, Exhibitors and Buyers at the 2019 Tucson Gem, Mineral & Fossil Showcase.

My comment: Notice that none of this actually includes sales of specimens, although that is reflected in sales tax collections, but only partly since wholesale purchases must exceed retail and are not taxed.

If attendee purchases average $10,000 (real easy to do) that gets to $50 million immediately, and that only counts official vendors, not all of the 'tailgaters who also do huge amounts of business. So Tucson is big business, my guess is at least half a billion dollars. No wonder the show is so much appreciated.