If you’ve ever wondered about mineral shows as they used to be, the smaller-town affairs meant for all sorts of people – serious collectors, beginners and families alike – the Bancroft Shows offer a glimpse, going back to the first show, over 50 years ago. Even the name of our original show, the Bancroft Rockhound Gemboree (at first, named the Gem-Boree), harks to an earlier era in the evolution of mineral collecting. In an older incarnation, the Bancroft Gemboree was held a few kilometres north of town at the old Bird’s Creek fairgrounds…

Gemboree, August 1964  (Archives of Ontario, RG 65-35-1, 8-H-1964)

Now the show is in Bancroft, with mineral-related activities to make up for the fact that there is no longer a ferris wheel.
There is a lot to be said for these kinds of mineral shows, based in smaller towns – the Bancroft Area has beautiful scenery, wildlife and, of course, rocks!

Common Loon on nest (Bay Lake, just outside of Bancroft)

The Bancroft Shows
Although Bancroft on a snowy day in early December or late March is a very quiet little town, at many other times of year Bancroft is an outdoor destination, and the height of it all is the week of the Bancroft Shows!

Bridge Street, Bancroft, during Gemboree weekend

When I say the “Bancroft Shows”, we have two separate annual gem and mineral shows, within one week. The large Rockhound Gemboree, in its 51st year, is held for four days, Thursday-Sunday, every year on the first weekend of August. The Bancroft Gem and Mineral Club also hosts a smaller show, on the last July Sunday that falls one week prior to the Gemboree – next year will already be our 20th year for the show.
It’s hard to come up with three more truly Canadian venues: the Bancroft Shows are hosted inside the Canadian Legion (the Club Show), the hockey arena and the curling rink (the Gemboree).
Starting the week off each year, the Club Show is a small non-commercial show, organized and run buy the members of the Bancroft Gem and Mineral Club. All proceeds go to funding the Bancroft Gem and Mineral Club Mineral Museum. Usual Suspects Wendy and Frank Melanson are key organizers of this fine local show.

It isn’t too hard to see what’s wrong in this photograph. (Not staged – he really was walking around like that for a couple of hours.)

The exhibitors at the Club Show are mostly local Ontario dealers and collectors, with some from further afield as well. As a result, this show often offers a “sneak peak” availability of what’s new and interesting in Canadian minerals. Over the years, lots of interesting things have shown up here!

Club Show, before morning opening

Club members contribute to very fine mineral displays – this year featuring quartz.
George Thompson contirbuted an excellent display of Canadian Quartz, all the more impressive since several of George’s Canadian quartz specimens are already on display in his separate Minerals of Ontario display across the river in the Bancroft Gem and Mineral Club Museum! (For more about our new museum, click here.)  His show display, anchored by the giant Diamond Willow Mine amethyst (near Thunder Bay, Ontario), showcased fine quartz specimens from localities across the country, including Bathurst, New Brunswick, Boylston, Nova Scotia, Black Lake, Quebec, Kamloops, British  Columbia and  Emerald Lake, Yukon, among others.

Canadian quartz specimens from the collection of George Thompson.

Wendy Melanson put together a case of quartz from all over the world, with a central riser of beautiful amethyst specimens. The large one at back centre is from the Anahi Mine, La Giaba Distsrict, Sandoval Province, Santa Cruz Dept., Bolivia.

Quartz specimens from the collection of Wendy Melanson.

The Club show ends in the late afternoon with an event that is not to be missed if you can help it – Club member and professional auctioneer Mark Stanley conducts a mineral auction to benefit the Museum, and he is awesome! Always a lot of laughs, it is a good time.
A few days later, the town is host to the Rockhound Gemboree. The Gemboree is Canada’s largest commercial gem and mineral show, with displays of minerals, jewellery, and other mineral-related items (books, tools, historical mining artifacts). Of course, the Gemboree has a large indoor setup featuring many dealers at both venues (a very short walk apart from one another).

Gemboree, hockey arena venue, before the morning open

For those of you who appreciate details, in the photo above, you’ll see the fine netting to stop hockey pucks from hitting spectators, and also the row of colourful hockey victory banners hanging from the rafters. The boards around the perimeter of the ice surface are all hidden by the nice curtains (all in, you don’t feel like you should be wearing skates).

A great part of the Gemboree experience is that it also has the old-style, outdoor tailgating section for dealers. That’s where you’ll find a few familiar faces, including George Thompson, David K. Joyce and me.

A quiet moment after two drops of rain had chased everyone inside for a few minutes

Yes, we’re at the mercy of the weather (which was fantastic this year!) but it’s worth the risk – what could be better than summer sun, fine minerals, friends, mineral talk and of course mineral music?

Dave Joyce serenades some of his non-website minerals with an as-yet unnamed tune.  (Something about love and red dots.)

Mystery Mineral
One morning while innocently talking with people looking at my table, a woman stopped and asked me if I had any “Mystery Mineral”. A smart aleck might have replied “you tell me”.
But I could see that it was an earnest request and I explained that “Mystery Mineral” is not a mineral name, but rather a marketing name of some kind, so I was not sure what mineral she was looking for.
Mystery Mineral Woman: “No, that IS the mineral name: Mystery Mineral.”
R: [Pause]
MMW: “Aren’t you based in Bancroft?”
R: “Yes.”
MMW (now with edge of annoyance): “Well you SHOULD know all about it. It’s a new find, from very near Bancroft itself. If anyone should know, it’s YOU.”
R: “I promise you it is not a mineral name. Can you tell me what it looks like? Is it white or colourless and clear?”
MMW: “Oh so you DO know of it!”
R: “Does it form slender, pointed six-sided crystals?”
MMW: “Yes!”
R: “And can you tell me where you saw them?”
MMW: “At a store… [Ed. Note: the name of which suggested something to do with spiritual odysseys]”
R: “Hmmn…”
I don’t think she believed my diagnosis. People really do give common quartz all sorts of names in order to sell it.
I didn’t tell her “Mystery Mineral” might be my favourite to date.
Real Minerals
It’s been a quiet run in Canadian minerals lately, but it is always possible to find interesting things at the Bancroft Shows.
From Nova Scotia, beautiful zeolites and associated  minerals are still found from time to time.

 Stilbite on Chabazite, Wasson’s Bluff, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia – 4.5 cm

Natrolite ball (2 cm) on Analcime, Wasson’s Bluff, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia

Classics from Quebec are becoming increasingly hard to obtain, but there are usually a small number of good ones at these shows.

Vesuvianite with Diopside, Jeffrey Quarry, Asbestos, Quebec – 7.5 cm

Prehnite crystals (to 1.2 cm), Jeffrey Quarry, Asbestos, Quebec

Rutile crystals to 1.2 cm, McGregor Lake, Outaouais, Quebec

Rhodochrosite and Elpidite, Mont Saint-Hilaire, Quebec – 6.5 cm

 Titanite with diopside, Zec Bras-Coupé-Désert, Moncerf-Lytton, Outaouais, Québec – 5.5 cm

Stay tuned for Canadian mineral updates over the coming weeks.

Well, the Bancroft Shows are over until next year, but they usher in our late summer and early fall – the time of year that often affords some of the Bancroft Area’s best field collecting weather. Hope to see you in the trenches!