Ready to take on the AGTA GemFair this year! Come along as I spend some time at this unique gem show.
If you’re willing to fight the crowds at Mayer & Watt’s booth, your patience will pay off big time because they have some of the most stunning colored stones.
This is what you’ll find along the aisles of AGTA–lots of gems from US or Canada-based companies.
Some examples of the amazing things Rare Earth Mining Co. has to offer, love these inlay pieces.
Left: I always make sure to check out Omi Gems as they have a remarkable, always top notch, selection. Their alexandrite pieces are really great too (I have a neat video I posted in my Instagram Story).
Right: Kimberly Collins Gems had a killer selection of sapphires this year. And ‘no heat’ makes them even more exceptional!
Left: Clay of Zava Mastercuts is a cutting genius–this Afghani tourmaline has an electric color and weighs 26.71 carats!
Right: I was having a pear-party over at the booth of Under the Crown Jewelry, some of the best antique and estate pieces of the show. Pears are definitely the hot cut of the moment for bridal and these are unique: aqua, tanzanite and diamond.
More impeccable gems to choose from–are you sensing the fact that it would be super hard to choose what to buy?!
Sure there are lots of opals at the gem shows, but these particular pieces were extra special! They are from Parlé Gems.
Left: These look like rainbow sprinkles but they’re actually multi-colored sapphires from Sheahan Stephen Sapphires.
Right: Another favorite from Rare Earth Mining Co. these are natural ammonite inlaid with turquoise and in the background are ammonite inlaid with ammolite.
These gemstones are both from B & B Fine Gems, on the left is a gorgeous Paraiba Tourmaline that weighs 4.38 carats and an insane imperial topaz.
For six gem-filled days, AGTA GemFair takes over the Tucson Convention Center and provides the best gemstones, jewelry, supplies and much more to people of the jewelry industry during this time. This was my third trip to the desert southwest to attend the gem shows and AGTA is always a show I look forward to the most. The excitement is always bouncing off the walls at the show and my head is usually whizzing around left and right, and my eyes feel like they’re popping out of my head like a cartoon character.
The only show that can get me to go from waking up at 5am, jumping on a plane, sitting for 5+ hours, renting a car in Phoenix and driving down to Tucson for 2 hours, is AGTA because that’s exactly what my trip started out like! After a long day of travel, you’d think one would be exhausted, but I checked into my hotel and didn’t even change out of my airport attire, just drove 30 minutes more to walk around the show before it closed at 6pm! My first day at AGTA started with a bang and I got to see so many smiling faces and people that I haven’t seen since the last show.
Like last year, I went straight to the antique and vintage jewelry vendors because I can’t help but be drawn to what I love most. I’m not kidding, I was at the show for 20 minutes and I already spent half of the money I brought with me. If you’re wondering what I bought, it was a ring, long, set with diamonds and you probably already know the rest because I’ve been collecting these types of rings for awhile now. I can’t pass them up when I see them! This particular ring was found from Period Jewels out of Beverly Hills and if you follow me on Instagram, you can see it there! I also had to check out Rare Earth Mining Co. since I was so blown away by everything they had at the last show. My assumptions were correct and they had even more than I last remembered–things like ammonite inlaid with turquoise, natural ironstain quartz from Brazil, azurite geodes, magnetite jade, uvaravite, opalized petrified wood from Indonesia (which I bought some!), drusy, landscape agate, amethyst crystal tops, cat’s eye quartz, some of the best azurmalachite, jasper, and LOTS more.
After a full night’s sleep, I was ready for day two of AGTA GemFair. Most of the photos above were taken on the second day, so you can kind of see a play-by-play recap of who and what I saw. I was excited to finally meet Dave & Sabrina Bindra of B & B Fine Gems and to hear about their gem business, what they offer and see some of the most beautiful gemstones I’ve ever seen. It was interesting to hear that a lot of stones they offer are from old estates…some have been recut to bring out an even more brilliant and beautiful gemstone. I think a lot of people assume the Tucson Gem Shows only feature stones straight from a mine or gem dealer, so it was unique to hear something like that! Also loved learning about Parlé Gems and their facility in Idaho. Parlé has a vast array of gemstones, like boulder opals, a variety of different garnets, sapphires, tourmaline, ruby, peridot, alexandrite, emeralds, diamonds and much more. They even have a line of finished jewelry which uses their gemstones and I was particularly fond of their newest Sharing the Rough line.
Hope you enjoyed all the photos from this year’s AGTA GemFair–each caption will give you info on the vendors which I saw and any information that is known about the subject in the photo. I’ll be doing another post about other shows and tips on how to conquer Tucson next!
You can read about last year here!
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