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I'm starting to plan a trip to the Tucson Fossil Show in February. (This will be my first time there.) I've only got a couple of days and I know there are dozens of separate shows, so I want to plan my time to visit the best of them. It seems like the 22nd Street Show should be a good one to attend, what other ones should I think about attending? What Fossil Forum members will be exhibiting there? I'd like to try to at least stop by and say hello, maybe buy something, too.

Has anyone ever been to the Greater Detroit Mineral, Gem, and Fossil Show (coming up in mid-October)? If so, can you comment on the number of vendors and diversity and quality of fossils available for sale?

So, who is going to the Denver Fossil show at the Coliseum? I will be setting up a table under the T-rex, come see me!!!

Hi everyone! So it has been a busy week for me, as I have things to post but haven't found the time. I just got back from Gemworld 2017 and I would like you opinion on my one and only purchase. I went to the show with the mindset that if I bought anything at all it had to be something special. I normally do not buy fossils. So after walking around and looking at many interesting specimens, what caught my eye was a Cretodus crassidens tooth from South Dakota in matrix. I have wanted one of these for awhile. The tooth is pretty nice. It is all intact. But there are two cracks which run though the tip of the root above one of the cusps. As an added bonus there is a smaller Cretodus as well as a few Squalicorax falcatus teeth on the top and bottom of the piece. There also appears to be possible bone and fish teeth. I paid $97. I know that Cretodus teeth are sought after and can demand a fairly high price. Because don't normally buy, I would just like to know if you guys think it was a good purchase. I don't know if I would have paid that much for the Cretodus by itself , but with all the other teeth in the matrix It was hard to pass up. Here are some pics. I can try to take some close-ups later if anyone wants. Thanks Dave

Has anyone ever been to the Sainte Marie Aux Mines gem and mineral show? How is the fossil material, specifically dinosaur? Worth a trip from the US?

Hello all fossil-friends! (I'm not sure whether this is in the right thread, if it's not I'd love the admins to put it where it's meant to be .) Anyways, I wanted to tell everyone that their is a big fossil market at Ede (Netherlands) this weekend, and that I would love you to come! It is organized by the Paleobiologische Kring van Nerderland/Vlaanderen (Paleobiological Group of Netherlands/Flanders), the Werkgroep Fossielen Wageningen (Workgroup Fossils Wageningen), and the famous Fossiel.NET (basically a Dutch version of TFF); many other organizations/museums will be there too. There will be plenty of stuff to do: amateur-paleontologist encounters, fossil IDing by experts, fossil trading, fossil buying/selling, lectures by paleontologists, prep demonstrations, and many other fun fossil-related activities/workshops! Here's the info you need to know: Date: Saturday 11th March 2017 Time: 10:30 till 16:00 Address: Het ROVC, Galvanistraat 13, 6716 AE, Ede, NETHERLANDS Entry fee: FREE! Stuff to bring with you: fossils you are willing to trade, to prep, to get IDd, etc; and some money. No food needed (drinks and food available). Here is a link with all the information you need: https://english.fossiel.net/beursede/ BUT: this is only for fossils, so NO minerals, artifacts, etc.! I will of course be there, and I hope that you will also be. I hope to see you there! Max PS: I'm not an organizer or anything of the event, I'm just telling everyone about it so that there will be more people to meet.

I was wondering if anyone has ever been to a fossil show in Japan. I found some pictures on the Internet of some fossil shows in Japan and the quality of the dinosaur fossils shown are incredible. I'm not sure when or where these pictures were taken.

Early news for the 2017 show. All those attending the show, at the Tuscon Inns Suite City Center, will face a nightmare parking close to the Hotel. The large parking area that everyone uses at this venue has been sold and construction is scheduled to start early February. Marty Zinn the promoter is telling dealers that he is setting up a remote parking area and will bus visitors to Hotel. I also hear that he is trying to delay construction until after the show but cannot substantiate that piece of information. The immediate impact, that I'm aware of, is that a number of dealers are pulling the plug with Marty and moving to the "22nd Show" venue or to other shows around Tucson. Not good for a long term health of this venue. The Inns Suite is one the larger fossil venues at the Tucson show. The parking lot in question has had a for sale sign on it for years but no one thought it would be sold. I believe it is not owned by the hotel but used for parking during the show. Remote parking will be a nightmare for those wanting to hop around to different venues.

The show is coming will be ad Cypress Gardens Saturday February 15th, 10am until 4pm. I have been told there will be over 40 vendors both exhibiting and selling fossils. There should be a great mixture of Marine fossils ranging from the Eocene to the Miocene as well as some land mammals. Here is a link to the web page so that you can get more information. I know several forum members will be there so it will be a great opportunity to meet folks and share this common interest. Well, I tried to cut and paste the link but apparently we can't paste into the field here. Here is the link typed out... http://www.cypressgardens.info/events.asp

The 23rd annual Fossil Fest is coming this weekend to Round Rock, Texas. This next weekend, Saturday & Sunday December 7th & 8th. This is the show of the Paleontological Society of Austin (Formerly CTPS & APS). The show is totally about fossils (minimal gem & mineral stuff), small and we will have lots of displays of fossils. Here's the info: http://www.austinpaleo.org/fest.html Hope to see you there and please look me up. Erich Rose

Hey everyone, This weekend is the NY-NJ Gemshow. Don't let the name fool ya, there are a bunch of fossil dealers at the show including: Devonian Depot (myself) Dinosaurs and More Ancient Earth Trading Fossil Clocks Gold Bug Trilobites Hagar's Fossils Hartstein Fossils International Fossil co Lost World Fossils And others. It'll be at the NJ Convention Center in Edison, NJ, Fri-Sunday. See the site for more details: http://ny-nj-gemshow.com/ -Yinan

The MAPS fossil show was this past weekend, April 5-7, and as usual we were there. The show itself is a lot of fun, and if you haven't made it you should! It's always the first weekend in April, so next year it will be April 4-6th. The turnout seemed to be pretty decent for being at a new location. In the past it has been held in Macomb, IL and this year it was in Iowa City, IA. We didn't make a whole lot of money selling at the show, but we didn't do too bad. We don't do the show to make a lot of money(but that's always nice) and aren't commercial dealers, so everything we make goes back into our hobby. Tools, gas, and prep costs add up over the collecting season. Along with having a table at MAPS, we also get some goodies. Every year at MAPS we give a box of fossils to be prepped and then get them back the following year. Here are some of the goodies we got prepped this year. I haven't gotten photographs of everything yet, so I'll start with the echinoderms. All of these Echinoderms were prepared by Scott Vergiels. First we'll start with the fossil I was most excited to get back... an Oklahomacystis. While fairly common in the Ordovician aged Bromide formation of Oklahoma, this specimen was collected in the Platteville formation of Southwest Wisconsin. Oklahomacystis sp. Platteville Fm., Grand Detour mbr. Middle Ordovician Southwest Wisconsin Next up is an unusual crinoid: Carabocrinus radiatus Galena Fm., Prosser mbr. Ordovician aged (Shermanian) Southeast Minnesota More in next post...

They want $40,000.00 for it!

An e-mail announcement today: Cancellation of the 49th edition EURO MINERAL & EURO GEM 2012 at the COLMAR Exhibition Grounds. Dear Harry [pristis], In June 2011, MINERAL Concepts sarl announced the transfer of the 2014 d’EURO MINERAL & EURO GEM to COLMAR in order to bring the event in line with current regulations. In October, pushed to leave by the Town of Ste-Marie-aux-Mines, we found ourselves obliged to accelerate this move to June 2012. In November 2011, the Town of Ste-Marie-aux-Mines created a competing event, financed with government funds. Since then, MINERAL Concepts has been victim of a large-scale disinformation campaign and iniquitous competition supported, among other things, by a pricing policy with which MINERAL Concepts sarl cannot compete. By creating tremendous confusion regarding the image of our event as well as all among our clientele using derogatory communications, the mayor’s team succeeded in creating a considerable disturbance among our 1000 exhibitors, most of whom had previously agreed that the rightful future of the event was in Colmar. Confronted with a difficult choice between the past success of EURO MINERAL & EURO GEM at Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines and the advantages of the move to the COLMAR Exhibition Ground, with its comfort and facilities, many exhibitors are at a loss to decide. Many hoped that some unknown element will help them decide at a later date. Others say that they planned do one last one in Sainte-Marie then move to Colmar in 2013! _________________________________________________________________ Despite numerous email and telephone campaigns, as well as face-to-face meeting, only 450 exhibitors are registered for EURO MINERAL & EURO GEM COLMAR. Our objective of 700 exhibitors, necessary in order to hold the 2012 event in reasonable conditions, and given the overhead costs, appears to be unattainable. We are therefore forced, with infinite regret, to cancel the 49th edition of EURO MINERAL & EURO GEM which was to take place June 21st to 24th at the COLMAR Exhibition Grounds. _________________________________________________________________ After building, for 30 years, an incredible success story, and making EURO MINERAL & EURO GEM the 3rd largest such event in the world, this situation is particularly painful. I truly believe that my team and I have done excellent work that we can continue to be proud of. I bitterly regret not being able to continue our project, which we remain convinced is the only way for the event to survive and thrive in the long term. The Town of Sainte Marie aux Mines must now face an enormous challenge: receiving you with the level of quality and comfort you expect, while respecting all current regulations. Due to this cancellation, MINERAL Concepts is obligated to lay-off 4 full-time employees. We hope, in the interest of the entire community, that this event will be a success. Warmest regards, Michel SCHWAB - Manager and the whole MINERAL Concepts sarl team Brigitte SCHAEFFER, Flore COTTEL, Eric JACOB, Luc SPATZ