Contributing Editors Emmanuel Fritsch, University of Nantes, CNRS, Team 6502, Institut des Matériaux Jean Rouxel (IMN), Nantes, France (fritsch@cnrs- imn.fr) Gagan Choudhary, Gem Testing Laboratory, Jaipur, India (
[email protected]) Christopher M. Breeding, GIA, Carlsbad (
[email protected]) manite. Many dealers posted strong sales of pastel-colored spinel—in pink and lavender hues—in suites and sets as TUCSON 2018 customers found the scarcity and high prices of red spinel prohibitive. In a similar vein, Margit Thorndal of Madagas- Every February the gem and mineral world descends on car Imports reported strong demand for purple-lavender Tucson, transforming the downtown convention center spinel and purple sapphire from Madagascar, as well as teal and a great many of the city’s hotels into a fascinating col- hues of unheated Montana sapphire. lage of traders bearing goods from all over the planet (fig- We noted that electric blues, teals, hot pinks, hot yel- ures 1 and 2). low greens, and pastel-colored gems were quite popular. Many of the exhibitors we spoke with described 2018 Bill Larson of Pala International pointed to this trend and as the strongest year since 2008. Although traffic wasn’t showed us a number of spectacular examples from his in- especially heavy at the AGTA and GJX shows, most deal- ventory. Fine blue zircon from Cambodia was prominent, ers there enjoyed brisk sales and healthy demand for high- as was attractive sphene from Zimbabwe and Madagascar. quality goods. Some of the same trends from last year were Dave Bindra of B&B Fine Gems said his company was evident.