Our Tucson HAUL: Broke but Happy

Like so many of us, my expectations for Tucson were fairly “thumbs down”. Tariffs deter vendors from traveling with merchandise as they raise prices and import restrictions add shipping times to goods you would normally carry home. Also, a couple of my favorite vendors were not in attendance at the GJX show. Foot traffic was also reduced at most venues – especially those for the trade only.

But occasionally something bad can turn into a positive. I can never buy everything I want at a show, and with a little bit less to choose from I had more time to delve more deeply into the supplies of the vendors of mine who bring parcels to sift through. It also made me stop at a couple of booths that I don’t normally have much time for and dig deeper. Often, vendors have products stashed under the glass cases because they brought too much to display. One of my favorite guys, a vendor who brings largely Tanzanian goods a couple times a year, for instance, has an entire briefcase of parcels that he has to “dig through” to even show me the relevant parcels, and then I have to sit and work through them, matching kornerupines into small sets and pairs, measuring the right sizes of color change garnet melees, and figuring out the math of the more expensive items I want.

While some vendors did report that the show did not meet their expectations in terms of sales, others said that their “regulars” all came and spent the regular amounts, so they were satisfied. I didn’t hear anyone say “best Tucson ever” or anything like that, but most sellers were positively surprised. (Perhaps because of below average expectations, as pretty much all of us were at least somewhat apprehensive!).

A novel sales method this year was the “temporary import bond” that allows vendors to bring product into the US, but not to sell it. The goods have to return to their host countries, and then be shipped from there, with tariffs applicable, or not, as the case may be. Both the timing of tariff bills and exact costs remain a mystery at this point: a few buyers reported getting a bill right away, others waited months or got nothing. Customs bills arrive anywhere from a few days to a few months post shipment. In other cases, the tariffs are billed to the vendor, not the buyer.

Yours truly has a few shipments coming from Bangkok for just that reason. So that’s annoying, but on the other hand I can’t process all the goods that I already have (it takes me months to put them on Etsy). So it’s nice to have a little Christmas in March, after I’ve made at least a dent in the Tucson pile.

For kicks, I decided to make videos describing my Tucson purchases, or some of them, and you can watch them here. Each video takes on a few different items.

Video One discusses demantoids, benitoites and Russian emeralds:

In Video Two I present Purple Sapphires, Mandarin Garnet and Chrome Tourmaline:

The content of Video Three focuses on Color Change Garnet, Rose and Purple Garnet as well as Kornerupines:

In the final video I show you a few novel items in neon blue that could be used to design with Paraiba:

I also restocked on some hauyne. My German vendor was able to bring everything as there are no tariffs for German companies. French vendors also had it fairly easy, as did any other company that has a business in the EU. Many Thai sellers (mostly not actually Thai but Russian, Ukrainian, French, Israeli, and many more) for instance have a business in the EU, and many of my South American contacts (Brazilian, Colombian mostly) have businesses in the US. Or both, of course. This helps with credit card transactions, among other things, because you must have a Social Security or Tax ID number here to obtain a bank account or sign up for a credit card processing option.

In addition to hauyne, I made another sizable investment in Paraiba tourmaline from Brazil. Paraiba seem to sell no matter what, and production is ever slimmer. One vendor I used to use has increased their prices by 30%. That’s only fair but of course I now buy mostly direct, and while direct prices are up too, they are not up quite as much. You have to be very observant to get a sense of why certain stones are priced a certain way, otherwise you will very quickly overpay. I try. But it is not an easy thing.

I will close here – more of my “haul” will be released over time as I unpack and sort and have it ready for video.