The Inaugural Mineral & Gem Asia Fair Opened Today

The first edition of the Mineral & Gem Asia opened Saturday and will run until Tuesday at the AsiaWorld-Expo, Hong Kong. Organized by UBM Asia, the fair has 101 local and overseas exhibitors in about 12,000sqm of exhibition space. Participants include exhibitors from about 27 countries and regions around the world displaying a variety of rough and polished gemstones, fossils, art pieces and rough, loose, semi- and fully finished mineral products.

Exhibitors include Amberstream from Poland; Blue Gems, Chili Jewels, Iskcon Gems, KGE Rough & Gems and Rusgems from Hong Kong, Duarte & Bastos from Brazil; Ram Narayan from India; and Star Mountain Mining from the US.

Apart from the rare mineral specimens, three dinosaur fossils are on display. They include a pair of dinosaur fossils in fighting position, Allosaurus atrox and Suuwassea emiliea, which are being shown for the first time in Asia. Tyrannosaurus rex – King Kong, which was displayed at the June Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair 2014, will be at Mineral & Gem Asia as well. In addition, a three-dimensional model of the Thermopolis archaeopteryx specimen, the first of its kind, is on display.

“The launch of Mineral & Gem Asia is an important milestone in UBM Asia’s fair history. We are glad that the fair is receiving great support from the industry,” said UBM Asia Senior VP Wolfram Diener. 

This support includes The Stephen Hui Geological Museum of The University of Hong Kong and The Mineralogy Society of Hong Kong. The organizations are showing their latest mineral and fossil collections and are hosting onsite activities, such as a game and workshops, to give students the opportunity to explore, learn and appreciate mineral specimens, fossils and rare stones from around the world.

The Stephen Hui Geological Museum is displaying rare fossils including the skull of a Hipparion coelophyes, a well-preserved Jurassic plant fossil from Lantau Island and a two-cm large fossilized cone of pine from Tertiary rocks of Dong Ping Chau found in Hong Kong.

The Mineralogy Society of Hong Kong is showcasing valuable mineral specimens found from around the world including Calcite, Dioptase, Tourmaline, Tsavorite.

Mineral & Gem Asia at the AsiaWorld-Expo is running in parallel with the 2015 edition of the June Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair, which at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, June 25-28. The June fair features 2,273 exhibitors from 45 countries and regions. 

Please join me on the Jewelry News Network Facebook Page, on Twitter @JewelryNewsNet and on the Forbes website.

What I learned in Tucson

The sunset outside the Tucson Convention Center

I’ve been covering the jewelry industry for 10 years and I have never been to the Tucson gem shows. It was an eye opening experience in many ways and I gained more hands-on knowledge in my eight days in Tucson than I did at any other time working in the industry. There are approximately 36 gems, minerals, fossil and jewelry shows in Tucson over a three-week period, with a few shows beginning earlier. The following is a short list of some of the things I learned:

The Mineral and Fossil Shows Rock. Where else can you find pieces of Quartz bigger than Shaquille O’Neal, amethyst the size of a coffin and fossilized specimens ranging from alligator heads to prehistoric insects?

It’s a place where you can walk into a hotel room and find a 450-pound Meteorite. Not only that, you then can learn that it produces a gem-quality mineral called peridot, also available on Earth. The outer space version of the gem has been given the name, Palladot.

It’s a place where hotel and motel room double as living spaces and showrooms. Brings new meaning to the term, mi casa su casa.

The Centurion Show is the easiest luxury jewelry show to work. This exclusive gathering of luxury jewelry designers, manufacturers and retailers provided me with ample time to view new and exciting products. It’s not typical of the shows in Tucson but it is in the state during the same time so I included it.

If you ever have a chance to join Lois Berger’s Pearl Walk, do it. She holds it annually during the AGTA GemFair. It’s an up-close view of the pearl industry.

Passion. It’s a word that’s thrown about the jewelry industry like candy to kids during Halloween. But it’s a word you never hear in Tucson. That’s because the passion is as obvious as water is to a fish.

If you ever get a chance to see Gary Roskin’s presentation on the Hope and Wittelsbach-Graff diamonds, do it. He was one of 10 gem experts to examine and photograph the two famous deep blue diamonds as these experts tried to determine whether these two diamonds, each with their own remarkable history, are from the same source.

Below are some photos from my time in Tucson:

A giant quartz outside the Riverpark Inn where the Pueblo Gem & Mineral Show was held.

A giant amethyst outside the Riverpark Inn.

Various fossilized heads

Fossilized prehistoric insects

A 450-pound meteorite in the Riverpark Inn hotel room/showroom of Charles Ellias.

The Palladot jewel-quality gems from the meteorite.

The hotel/showrooms of the Hotel Tucson City Center, home of the Arizona Mineral & Fossil Show.

The passionate buyers at the Arizona Mineral & Fossil Show.

Gary Roskin and Lois Berger at the Accredited Gemologists Association's Gala Dinner Dance, Feb. 2.

Agate slices

Peeking out of the shadows.

Gold

Prehistoric fossilized fish

Petrified wood