Chuck Huus, from Maine, takes a closer look at a display at the Alfie Norville Gem & Mineral Museum inside the historic Pima County Courthouse. The museum is dedicated to the preservation of minerals and meteorites and to educate the public.

 Mamta Popat photos, Arizona Daily Star

You could spend the entire day wandering the galleries of the University of Arizona Alfie Norville Gem & Mineral Museum and still manage not to see everything.

Located in a section of the old Pima County Courthouse downtown, the museum has an estimated 3,000 specimens on display, pulled, sometimes literally, from every corner of the Earth, spread across 12,000 square feet of space.

A massive quartz cluster, one of the largest intact clusters ever mined in Arkansas, greets guests as they walk into the lobby.

There’s an Arizona Gallery with a larger-than-life recreation of the Copper Queen Mine in Bisbee, complete with interactive schematics; a touch-and-feel zone where visitors can run their hands along different mineral samples; and a 116.76-carat Tsavorite Garnet dubbed the Lion of Merelani, on loan from the Smithsonian.

The museum is modern and state-of-the-art and has a little bit of everything, according to Elizabeth Gass, its exhibit specialist.

Amateur collectors can have their minerals on display at the Alfie Norville Gem & Mineral Museum.

“We’ve had people spend an hour in the first gallery, before they realize that is only a third of what we offer,” Gass said. “It is about an hour-and-a-half trip to walk through on average. But that is really just glancing at things.”

The museum opened its doors last July, but will have its first real moment in the sun when the Tucson Gem, Mineral & Fossil Showcase ramps up later this month.

Pre-pandemic, the annual event, which generally runs through mid-February, brought an estimated 65,000 people to Tucson each year. That number may be smaller in 2022 due to surging COVID numbers, but many of the shows are still happening after canceling in 2021 because of the pandemic.

A Tourmaline necklace, from the Somewhere in the Rainbow collection, is on display at the Alfie Norville Gem & Mineral Museum.

The museum, which began construction at the courthouse in 2018, is named after Alfie Norville, a co-founder of the Tucson Gem and Jewelry Exchange show held each year as part of the showcase.

“She was a big jewelry lover,” Gass said. “She was interested in making Tucson a big hub for minerals, gems and jewelry. I believe they succeeded.”

The 3,000 specimens on display at the museum are a mix of pieces on loan and from the university’s own collection of more than 20,000 pieces. Until it was moved over, much of the collection resided at the Flandrau Science Center and Planetarium on the UA campus.

Gass said the goal is to rotate about 20% of the museum’s gallery pieces per year.

A trilobite, far left, is on display with other fossils at the Alfie Norville Gem & Mineral Museum.

“In the museum industry, that is an industrious percentage of change,” Gass said.

Gass said the museum is looking to attract a variety of visitors.

“We want to appeal to everybody,” she said. “To create an environment where people who have been in the field for a long time would be interested, but also offer ways for people who might not know a lot about it to learn more.”

The museum is just one stop that folks can make as they tour the city’s many Gem, Mineral & Fossil Showcase shows over the coming weeks.

A sabre-tooth tiger skull, far right, is on display at the Alfie Norville Gem & Mineral Museum, inside the historic Pima County Courthouse.

You can find a full list of events and a downloadable app at visittucson.org.

In the meantime, here are some of the highlights.

You can’t attend the Tucson, Gem, Mineral and Fossil Showcase without paying a visit to the event that started it all: the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show, which is set to take place Feb. 10-13.

Laying claim to being the “largest, oldest and most prestigious gem show in the world” on the Tucson Gem and Mineral Society website (tgms.org/show), the four-day event returns after being canceled last year due to the pandemic.

No need to fret over inclement weather. The show is held inside the Tucson Convention Center, 260 S. Church Ave., with lectures and seminars, more than 250 retail dealers and 80 exhibits in a fluorescent mineral pavilion relating to this year’s theme, “The Show That Glows.”

The event runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Feb. 10-12 and 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Feb. 13. Tickets are $13.

The 22nd Street Mineral, Fossil, Gem & Jewelry Show, running Jan. 27 to Feb. 13, is a fan favorite, in part because admission is free (although parking will run you $5 on weekdays and $10 on weekends.)

Located at 600 W. 22nd Street, on the east side of Interstate 10, the show (website: 22ndstreet.show) features dealers specializing in just about everything from dinosaur skeletons to beads to meteorites.

When you are ready to eat, the show has more than 10 food trucks to feed you on-site, including Culinary Graduate, Jozarelli’s Italian Street Food, the Curry Pot and Bubba-Que.

Grab a bite, then head to the other side of Interstate 10 to visit the shows taking place in the many hotels that line the frontage road, then hop on the highway to get to another free and popular show, the Kino Gem & Mineral Show, at the Kino Sports Complex, 2500 E. Ajo Way, also happening Jan. 27-Feb. 13 (as-shows.com/kino-gem-show)

You can explore an entirely different continent without leaving Tucson during the Gem, Mineral & Fossil Showcase at the African Art Village, 279 S. Linda Ave., right around the corner from the MSA Annex, downtown.

Like many of the other show runners last year, African Art Village founder and coordinator Charlotte Mack opted not to participate in 2021.

“It was too soon,” Mack said.

But, she added, that has only made people more enthusiastic about its big return, Jan. 29-Feb. 13.

“People have contacted me about the show this year, made reservations to come here based on the African Art Village,” she said. “My show is outside. That should make it safer for everyone.”

Specializing in artisans from West Africa, countries like Mali, Ghana and Gambia, the village will include more than 120 vendors, selling everything from artwork to textiles to masks.

Mack said, pre-pandemic, beads for jewelry making had been top sellers.

“People are making their own jewelry,” Mack said. “I’ve had people contacting me during the pandemic, asking me for information about our bead sellers.”

The African Art Village runs 9 a.m.-6 p.m. daily. Call 520-869-7895 for more information.

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