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Review:
Tucson Gem Show 2005
As
I have mentioned before, the annual Tucson Gem and Jewelry
Show is the largest collection of gem, mineral and jewelry
suppliers in the world. The show is held during the first
two weeks of February in Tucson, and is a huge event. This
year there were 39 different venues with anywhere from a dozen
to over 500 exhibitors per show. You do the math: it's a big
deal.
Exhibitors
come from all over the world to exhibit their wares. At the
Tucson Show you can find everything from fossils and mineral
specimens to beads to high end diamond jewelry. If it's made
from stone, chances are you can find it in Tucson. This year
was the largest show ever.
Probably
the most noticeable trend this year was turquoise.
Everyone had it in some form or another. There was sky blue
turquoise from the US, apple green, brown, or yellow varieties
from China, and even lime green dyed turquoise processed in
Hong Kong. It seems the forecasts have everyone ready to move
huge quantities of this fun and attractive mineral during
the resurgence in popularity.
Also notable
were the amount of bead wholesalers. Having just opened a
retail store with about
1/3 of the square footage devoted to beads, I was obviously
on the look out, but it really seemed like this year every
other booth had beads for sale. The variety and price range
was truly staggering. Some of the Indian wholesalers were
offering low end semiprecious beads for $1 per strand. Other
vendors specialized in high end faceted gemstones sold in
the hundreds of dollars per half-strand. There were also silver,
gold, vermeil and even copper findings. The number of vendors
is a testament to the widespread interest among hobbyists
in making their own jewelry.
I was
also struck by the confluence of current events and how they
are impacting the jewelry industry. Precious metals prices,
especially silver, have fluctuated wildly over the past year.
As I have mentioned before, the overall trend is on an upward
trajectory. For literally a decade, silver hovered in the
$5 per ounce range. Over the past year price has varied between
$5.50 and $8 per ounce. In truth it has rarely dipped below
$6 per ounce, and often tops $7. Today
silver opened at $6.60 and closed at $7.17!
In addition
to rising silver, the US Dollar is currently coming off some
historic lows. In 2003 for example, $1
bought almost 43 Thai baht. Today it buys just 38.5 Thai
baht, a difference of almost 12%. My Thai vendors charge more
now for silver, and my dollar buys 12% less than it used to.
The dollar versus Euro
story is even more dramatic.
In the
end, I finally saw "bottom line" prices rising.
Sure, there were still the 29¢/gram signs, but the selection
was a sorry state of old close outs and very limited quantity.
The price increases are gaining traction and I doubt we'll
see any drop until and if silver prices settle down and the
dollar recovers.
The silver
lining (pardon the pun) to this cloud is that in the grand
scheme of things silver is still inexpensive compared to many
other commodities. Retailers will continue to have plenty
of room for mark up while keeping prices affordable in the
eyes of our customers.
(This
article written by Mike McGinnis and published originally
on indiasilver.com.
We encourage republication but stipulate the piece be copied
in its entirety with links and attribution.)
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