Gem show

Science? Forget it! Meteorites are pretty

The key to selling meteorites used to be the science behind the specimens. Dealers touted the chunks of iron on their trays as evidence of astounding statistics involving space and time. And more often than not, potential buyers - still hazy on astrophysics - walked away.

But a recent shift has re-energized the market, creating hundreds of new collectors and pumping up prices. Much to the surprise of some scientists, meteorites are moving out of the laboratory and into the gallery.

"We're taking these objects and presenting them as art," said Darryl Pitt, curator of the Macovich Collection of Meteorites. "The public is becoming aware of meteorites' aesthetic qualities."

Pitt is one of more than 30 meteorite dealers at this year's gem shows. He traces the current craze back to a series of natural history auctions in the early 1990s in which meteorites were sold alongside exotic items like dinosaur bones. The auction catalog photographs highlighted the sculptural beauty of the specimens. These meteorites were not the coal-colored lumps familiar from grade school field trips; they were thin, shimmering slices of color.

"It dances; it's musical," Pitt said, pointing toward an amber-colored piece crisscrossed by iron veins. "It's cut and polished to reveal the inherent beauty of the specimen."

Pitt, a former Time-Life photographer, has largely given up shooting to chase down good-looking specimens. But he still photographs meteorites, which he says are fine substitutes for the performing artists he used to capture on film.

"It's still about grace and movement. They're beautiful to photograph," said Pitt, who was introduced to meteorites by Tucson collector Robert Haag.

Pitt said artistic sensibilities now so dominate the field of meteorite collecting that he regularly encounters potential buyers who acknowledge, somewhat sheepishly, that they don't know exactly what a meteorite is. Pitt's response is an excellent refresher for anyone who stumbled through "Rocks for Jocks."

"If you think of planets as baked cookies, meteorites are the cookie dough," Pitt said. "Meteorites inform science about the butter and the eggs that went into the cookie."

Pitt said the explosion of interest in meteorites has benefited science by spurring on searches for new specimens. He says most meteorites are reviewed by scientists before they're put on the market.

But it's recent history that motivates most buyers today, Pitt said. In addition to appreciating a specimen's beauty, collectors want to know its story.

"Collectors are becoming more interested in esoteric material," Pitt said. "They want the meteorite that hit an animal."

Pitt has it, of course: a Venezuelan specimen accompanied by a notarized statement from the farmer whose cow it killed. Pitt is also selling shards of a meteorite that landed in 15th-century France and was chained down by terrified peasants who feared it would return to the sky with the same force.

"People like stories," said meteorite dealer Bruno Fectay, owner of La Memoire de la Terre. "It started a long time ago by science, but now people get interested by stories or by big movies like 'Deep Impact.' "

On Sunday, Pitt will host the first major meteorite auction in Arizona. He's offering 130 specimens that range in value from $50 to $50,000.

"There will be some great deals," Pitt said. "People will have a chance to get something pretty from outer space."

Pitt's auction will be held at 10:30 a.m. outside Room 20r at the InnSuites Hotel, 475 N. Granada Ave.

Gem Show briefs

Room names fail to faze sellers

Gem and mineral dealers, who trade in concrete things like rocks, apparently don't place much stock in super- stitions.

The rooms at the InnSuites Hotel, 475 N. Granada Ave., which double as dealer showcases during the Arizona Mineral and Fossil Shows, all have names as well as numbers. But the sellers ensconced there insist they haven't meditated on the meaning of the plaques affixed to their rooms.

"It doesn't make a difference," said Greg Hopp, a dealer for Canada Fossils, located in the BHP Copper Suite. "It is hilarious, though."

A seller fortunate enough to be assigned to the Red Rock Suite said she hadn't even noticed her room had a name. Then again, she speaks very little English.

Few of the suites have geological namesakes: Most dealers do their business in rooms named for Arizona mountain ranges, American Indian tribes or former presidents. One dealer, who set up shop in the Bill Clinton Presidential Jacuzzi Suite, wondered whether his room's name lent a tacky cast to his business.

Charles Ward, a fluorescent mineral dealer, said he doesn't mind having the Desperado Suite.

"I think the Desperado room is the most colorful room here," he said, motioning to his display of glowing rocks.

Hanna Miller

Tucson firm sells artificial geodes

A Tucson company has sold $20,000 worth of fake rocks to a Florida amusement park.

But the folks at Discovery Cove in Orlando, Fla. aren't angry. They're getting exactly what they wanted - seven giant artificial amethyst geodes to spice up the park's scenery.

"I don't think anybody has made geodes this large," CemRock Vice President Dave Taplin said. "They're huge."

Taplin shipped the artificial geodes to Florida this week on a flatbed truck. Each weighs close to 1,400 pounds.

The shells are made of molded concrete, and the sparkling crystals glued inside are made of clear urethane colored purple.

It took a crew of eight people six weeks to create the geodes. They will be placed at the end of the amusement park's Tropical River ride, Taplin said.

Taplin said CemRock is also shipping crystals to Sea World in San Diego.

Big bead show on South Side

Today is the first chance for bead fans to catch the event that calls itself the "Best Bead Show."

The Crystal Myths Inc. Best Bead Show runs today from 4 to 9 p.m.; from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. tomorrow through Saturday and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday at the Kino Veteran's Memorial Community Center, 2805 E. Ajo Way.

The show features beads made of a variety of materials and includes demonstrations by professional designers.

Only wholesalers may buy products at the show, but it's open to the public.

Phil Villarreal

For visitors

Space-colonization lab now used to study Earth

Biosphere 2

Arizona 77 en route to Oracle

Like the planet Earth, which served as its model, Biosphere 2 has been evolving since Day 1.

The 91-foot high, 539-foot-long building was created by a Texas billionaire who hoped to speed up space colonization by learning how humans could survive sealed off from the Earth.

In 1991, years before reality TV made survival a sport, eight "Biospherians" in orange jumpsuits entered the man-made compound. But the project floundered two years later when crew members, starved for oxygen, could no longer feed themselves. The complex has since been re-invented as a museum and research facility.

Visitors to the museum can look out over the Biosphere's ocean, tour a laboratory and examine the airlocks that control this world within a world.

To reach Biosphere 2, take Oracle Road north to Arizona 77. Continue north to mile marker 96.5.

Hours: Daily, 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. Admission: Adults, $12.95, Children 5 and under are free. Phone: 825-1269

Linen

7117 N. Oracle Road

An out-of-this-worldly cap to a day at Biosphere II would be dinner at Linen, the trendiest addition to Tucson's Northwest Side. The ritzy new restaurant announces its intentions from the start: each diner is greeted with a pair of pea-sized scoops of tomato parfait bathed in basil cream. The menu features top-tier entrees, including duck and veal sweetbreads, all priced in the $24-$28 range. Reservations are recommended.

Linen, 7117 N. Oracle Road, in the Casas Adobe Plaza.

Hours: Lunch, 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Mondays-Fridays; dinner, 5:30-10 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays; 5:30-11 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays. Closed Sundays. Phone: 797-3397

Hanna Miller

Where to park

Here's a listing of the public shows, coupled with parking tips for each.

Congress Street Expo at
Tucson Electric Park

Tucson Electric Park,
2500 E. Ajo Way

Ample parking is available in the Tucson Electric Park parking lot.

Globe-X Gem, Mineral, Fossil & Jewelry show

Days Inn, 222 S. Freeway Ave.

The best spots to park are the Days Inn parking lot, or the Tucson Convention Center for $4.

International Gem & Jewelry Show/Intergem Tucson 2001

700 block of West Congress Street, west of Freeway Avenue

Parking along Congress Street in front of the tent is the best way to go.

Rapa River

292 S. Freeway Ave.

Parking is available, but it costs $5 in the show lot.

Arizona Mineral & Fossil Show

Four sites:
* Ramada Inn University,
1601 N. Oracle Road
* Best Western Executive Inn, 333 W. Drachman St.
* InnSuites Hotel,
475 N. Granada Ave.
* Mineral & Fossil Marketplace, 1333 N. Oracle Road

Look for spots on the sides of streets if you can't find them in the hotel lots.

American Indian Exposition

Flamingo Travelodge,
1300 N. Stone Ave.

The Travelodge parking lot provides some parking. During the weekends, you can park at Pima Community College's Downtown Campus on Stone north of Speedway.

La Quinta Group

La Quinta Inn,
665 N. Freeway Ave.

If the La Quinta parking lot is full, you'll have to scavenge.

Atrium Productions

Four Points Hotel by Sheraton, 350 S. Freeway Ave.

Chances are the Sheraton lot will be full, so it's best to park at the TCC.

Trade Shows International Tucson Gem & Jewelry Show

Gem Pavillion,
450 S. Freeway Ave.

Officials say there will be ample parking in the lot behind the show scene.

Dell Productions

Tucson Scottish Rite,
160 S. Scott Ave.

If you can't find a spot on the side of the street, there's a lot south of the building that charges $2.50.

Beaucoup Congé

335 E. Fort Lowell Road

There are a few spots in front of the store, but your best bet is to park along North Geronimo Ave.

Crystal Myths Inc.-Best Bead Show

Kino Veterans Memorial Community Center, 2805 E. Ajo Way

Parking is ample at the site of the show.

The Whole Bead Show

The Windmill Inn of Tucson, 4250 N. Campbell Ave.

There is plenty of parking in St. Philip's Plaza.

Rio Grande Catalog in Motion Jewelry Equipment Showcase

Hilton Tucson East,
7600 E. Broadway

The hotel parking lot is the best place to park for this show.

47th Annual Tucson Gem & Mineral Show

Tucson Convention Center,
260 S. Church Ave., 322-5773

Phil Villarreal