Collector Day Features "The Will Larson Collection"

The show at the Westward Look has become an annual pilgrimage for me and my friends Margo (in turquoise - Gemologist) and Roni (Geologist, GG and Co-Founder of the Jeweler's Ethics Assoc).

Here the girls are schmoozing with Gail Spann - who refers to us as the Three Muskateers. Jim and Gail Spann were the featured collectors at the 2009 event.

You can't say enough good things about this woman - her mineral photos and drawings grace the pages of Mindat, the Mineral Forum on Jordi Fabre's website as well as her Facebook page!

This show is one of several that are filmed each year by BlueCap Productions and distributed as "What's Hot In Tucson"...you can' see clips at http://whatshotintucson.com/clips.html

It's a great way to bring a little bit of the show home with you...and an excellent teaching aid for geology classes and Rock & Mineral Clubs.

Here Bryan Swoboda gets host Dave Wilbur mic-ed up!

Will Larson was on hand to walk people through his exhibit which is considered to be one of the finest collection of minerals from Japan.

BlueCap Productions published a teaser about the event:

Every year the Westward Look Mineral Show (aka Fine Mineral Show: Tucson) puts on the Saturday Collector Day where they invite a special collector to display his or her specimens in the lobby of the Westward Look Resort.

This has always been a highly anticipated and attended affair and it looks like 2010 will continue that tradition when mineral collector Will Larson shares his collection of Japanese and Worldwide Minerals.

One piece from his worldwide collection that will be on display is this outstanding Tourmaline with Cleavlandite specimen. This killer specimen is from the world-famous Himalaya Mine in Mesa Grande, CA.

Apart from its obvious perfection, one of the things that makes this specimen so special is that it was self collected by Will way back in 1989.

As Will describes it, he was only 4 years old at the time and his father, Pala International's Bill Larson, basically picked him up and shoved him into the pocket - it was that big. After spitting out a mouth full of dirt that Will had managed to kick into his face, Bill patiently talked Will through the careful extraction process and, little by little, this piece started coming loose. Covered in clay, both the specimen and Will, they took this piece home and carefully washed it.

As more and more of the fine details of this specimen revealed itself, Will knew that he had a very special and rare piece. We couldn't agree more!!!

Still passionate about the famous pegmatite mines that he grew up with, Will continues his field-collecting explorations underground at places like Jeff Swanger's OceanView Mine (one of the filming locations for New Crystal Hunters).

So whether he's out field collecting or cruising through obscure mineral museums or even working deals with today's top dealers, Will Larson is one of those young, active, up-and-coming mineral collectors who follows his dreams.

Pala International profiled Will in their popular Mineral News Newsletter at: http://www.palagems.com/mineral_news_2009_v2.htm#portrait_will

Aside from featuring some of the finest minerals and mineral dealers, during this show BlueCap Productions offers a special panel discussion - previous discussions have been "Women in Mineral Collecting", "Mineral Photography" and this year was "The Grand Masters of Mineral Art".

Keep an eye on the website for the dates of the show, special events and the featured collector in 2011! http://www.westwardminerals.com/

You probably recognized the stunning Tanzanite crystal above, but do you know what that day-glo green mineral is?

This is piece literally caught my eye and stopped me in my tracks. A really lovely man in the Pala International room was patient enough to tell the story of Cuprosklodowskite...twice!

...let see if I remember it...the Cupro is for the copper content and Sklodowskite is for Maria Skłodowska–Curie the mother of Radioactivity - for the Uranium content.

Please - feel free to correct me if I'm not recollecting it properly.