About
Jewel Tunnel was founded in 1972 by Rock Henry Currier. A serious mineral collector, Rock started a home business, which grew to become one of the largest of its kind in the United States. We now occupy a 11,000 square-foot building with thousands of items available for our registered, valued customers. For over four decades, Jewel Tunnel Inc. has built a worldwide reputation for fairness, integrity, and honesty. We appreciate the opportunity to continue to serve you with the same exceptional standards that Rock Currier founded this company on.
https://intelligentcollector.com/the-lasting-legacy-of-rock-currier/
Although Michel isn't an employee of Jewel Tunnel Inc, his knowledge, expertise and friendship are so important to us. He is known as "The Tornado" because when he comes to town everything changes at La Fuente - his energy is huge! Every chance he gets, one can find him digging for his famous Fluorites from Filon Jaune, Valzergues, France. He truly deserves this honorary position on our team page!
My name is Alfred Petrov, a geologist and mineral collector. My friends joke that I'm a specialist in rare, ugly microscopic minerals, but I think minerals are like children... the ugly ones need love too. My involvement with Jewel Tunnel dates back almost 30 years, to 1993, when I met our founder, Rock Currier, in Bolivia. We quickly became good friends and over the following years, enjoyed numerous long road trips together, both in the USA and in rock hunting adventures in South America. I also helped Jewel Tunnel every year at some of the larger mineral shows, like Tucson and Denver, and Rock helped me find customers for my microscopic ugly rarities. It was a mutually beneficial association and lots of fun. But it was only after Rock sadly passed away in 2015 that I began working for Jewel Tunnel full-time. I take care of cleaning and pricing the more unusual minerals, spend lots of time with the microscope checking mineral identifications, or hunting for overlooked rare species, and checking for unwanted “enhancements” to protect our customers from fakery. I do some purchasing of minerals from suppliers in Europe, Latin America, Japan, and China; answer mineralogy questions from our customers and help teach mineralogy to other Jewel Tunnel staff, wash dishes, consume any leftover coffee, grumble about dust, and perform other such essential tasks. This old 1997 photo shows me with our founder, Rock, in front of the office of the El Desierto sulphur mine, with the mine owner and one of the miners, and Jewel Tunnel still gets crystallized sulphur from this very remote locality, in case you need sulphur.
Hello, my name is Albert Sanchez Jr. I was born in Texas, but I've lived in Tucson for most of my life. I am the father of three truly amazing children. This is my 2nd year with Jewel Tunnel at the La Fuente de Piedras Showroom, and I've learned a lot in that time. I'm proud to manage our showroom and interact with all of our wonderful customers, I have met some truly amazing people here. I look forward to the annual gem show in January and February and I hope to see you all there!
Meet our Docent, James (Jim) A. McGlasson! Jim has been interested in collecting minerals since age 10, when his father introduced him to a geologist co-worker, in the petroleum industry. He left the “oil country” to attend New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro, earning a B.S.in Geology with minor in Mining Engineering. The following 4 years were spent in Golden, Colorado earning a M.S. Degree in Geology at the Colorado School of Mines. A successful 45-year career as an exploration geologist, mine manager, and consultant; allowed Jim to obtain geologic and mineralogic knowledge at many diverse deposits worldwide. The understanding of the mineralogy in an ore deposit is the key to understanding the formation and characteristics of any mineralized system, both on the small and larger scale. Jim started collecting specimens on family vacations (not much local field collecting on the Gulf Coast), and was competing at local mineral shows, in the junior division, while in high school. He successfully took first place, in junior division thumbnail minerals, at the Texas Federation of Mineral Societies show in 1965. While in school at NMIMT he procured work study employment with the New Mexico Bureau of Mines as a technician in the X-Ray lab. Field collecting became an integral part of his life after moving to New Mexico and has remained so. In 1975 two colleagues talked him into starting a mineral specimen business, which never got very big because work always got in the way. Jim has served as president of the Tucson Gem and Mineral Society, and on the board of directors for Friends of Mineralogy, is a life member of the “Friends of the Museum” at New Mexico Tech. He believes that getting kids interested in science of any kind, but especially geology and mineralogy is critical for our society and planet. Following a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease in August he became “semi-retired” from consulting and now volunteers twice a week at the University of Arizona Mineral Museum and lab.
