The biggest venue and the best variety is in Tucson - first two weeks in February every year. There are about 40 venues and 4-5 of them feature antique and collectible beads, with other shows having a smattering of collectibles dealers. Danny Lopacki should be able to chime in with the best places to buy turquoise in Tucson and other places.

I hear that the Friendship, Indiana flea market (fall session going on right now, Sept 13 - 21) which happens twice / year is excellent also, and it includes the National Muzzle Loader Rifle Association events.

I can't really be of help regarding where to find turquoise beads if your looking for natural stone, nearly any and all of the turquoise beads that are sold at Tucson if from an out of the U.S. dealer are stabilized or not even turquoise. There is one dealer at Howard Johnson’s “Gary Werner” that will have beads made with turquoise from Mexico.

With the demand for turquoise getting out of hand and the supply running out expect to see high prices on any natural beads especially U.S. domestic stone. Any beads made from the highest grade Chinese spider web material again will be very expensive.

I will have some turquoise strands and also some single beads so if you come to the Tucson show stop by, even if you don’t buy you will be able to see truly high grade turquoise beads. We will be in room 126 at The Gem and Jewelry Show on Grant, which is the old Rodeway venue.

All my best ..... Danny

Suzi and I will have these two strands at Tucson if they don't sell prior to the show.

All my best ............ Danny

Hi Dee,
"The South" can be tricky to find good "old" beads. We do several of the Rendezvous in Fl. & Ga. area to aquire beads, but there's very little turquoise as it's considered "post 1840" and therefore taboo. The few Pow Wow's we've hit were selling more new "non" turquoise than anything else. Yard sales, estate sales, and thrift shops seem to supply the best stuff down here.
Good hunting,
Jeff

Hi Jeff,

Please post images of some of your garage sale & thrift store finds on Beadcollector.net.

Just Fred

Hi Fred,
many of my local finds are spread throughout the BCN files. Here's some of the more recent groups.

Nice finds!!