Quartzsite 2013 - Early Bird Gets The Worm (Day Two)

My friend Dave and I lodged New Year's night at the Super 8 Motel in Quartzsite, AZ, awaking before dawn to drive down to Blythe, CA, (where we lodged last year but not this year) for a decent cup of coffee before returning for breakfast at Sweet Darlene's. After that we got to work picking up where we left off yesterday. We hit yesterday's spots again, but Desert Gardens was behind schedule filling up with vendors relative to last year so we did not do much there and near the end of our visit at that. However, that mattered little as by the time the day was over Dave's truck was full and could not take one more flat or box of anything. Near the end of the day we headed home which took surprisingly little time despite the Rose Bowl Game in Pasadena, CA, (my place of origin) letting out being directly in our path en route home.
Check out yesterday's action on Day One.

A new year dawning upon Quartzsite, AZ, on New Year's Day.

A 1955 Nash Metro in the parking lot of where we had breakfast.

Newly-unpacked Brazilian Amethyst vugs at Village Originals.

These are actually rather nice Amethyst vugs which in this configuration are called "cathedrals".

This is an exceptionally cool cathedral pair.

That's Western Wood across the way behind this rack of Amethyst cathedrals.

The view inside Village Originals as they unpacked the day before they officially open

This image does not do this particular specimen justice.

I like the ridges of crystals some of these vugs contain.

Calcite crystal cluster on Amethyst.

Detail of some Brazilian Amethyst vug kitsch... real miners hate this stuff!

While we're on the topic of rock kitsch...

...here's some more!

One of the latest methods developed for ruining a perfectly fine silicon dioxide crystal cluster.

Made in China!

Well, at least it's man-made silicon dioxide cut in a diamond configuration.

Died/dyed in China.

At least one row of these seems to feature natural color.

Ambivalent/tepid dye job.

How to ruin a perfectly nice Brazilian agate sphere...

Dyed Brazilian Ocos.

Boxed sets of dyed Brazlian ocos.

Although these are quasi-kitschy I actually like them.

At least their color is natural and they have been shaped by means of utilizing their natural cleavage plane.

Although from a desert climate they evoke thoughts of ice castles.

Anybody else think of Superman's ice castle while looking at these images?

Genuine mosasaur skull with genuine teeth in original plaster casing from Morocco.

Genuine mosasaur jaw with genuine teeth.

Faux Moroccan mosasaur jaws with genuine teeth.

Faux Moroccan trilobites.

These trilobites were accurately labeled "reproductions" but other wholesalers and retailers more often than not do not.

I'm not sure these starfish are genuine fossils.

I'm fairly certain these crinoids are genuine.

Lots of genuine Moroccan fossils in these flats.

This design and configuration for Moroccan fossilized marble is new to me and I like it.

This is the show sleeper... in future years these will be hard to come by (and thus much more expensive) given what they are: Homo erectus tools known as Acheulean choppers.

Prospector's Panarama seemed more dead today, New Year's Day, than it was yesterday or even a year ago today.

Even Beer Belly's was pretty dead... no television and thus no bowl game watching to be had there.

The best mineral deals to be had in Quartzsite, AZ, are at this place which shall remain unnamed.

This is when and where I acquired my two Orpiment specimens.

This guy was selling larger Campo del Cielo meteorites which most people do not realize are forbidden to be collected by the government of Argentina.

This struck me as funny as the label refers to the source, NOT the name of the material itself but not initially knowing that caused me to do a double-take upon first glance.

Sunset over the Inland Empire on the way home to the Central Coast as seen from Interstate-10.