The phrase JCK Tucson denotes the editorial and trade-show presence of JCK, the principal American jewellery trade publication and trade-show operator, at the annual Tucson gem and mineral shows held in Tucson, Arizona each February. Tucson is not a single show but a constellation of approximately forty separate trade shows that run concurrently across the city in late January and February, and the JCK Tucson designation refers to JCK's editorial coverage of and limited exhibitor and event presence at the Tucson constellation rather than to any single show owned by JCK.

Tucson Gem and Mineral Shows

The Tucson shows are the largest annual coloured-stone, mineral and lapidary trade gathering in the world. They include the AGTA GemFair Tucson, operated by the American Gem Trade Association, the GJX Gem and Jewelry Exchange, the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show proper held by the Tucson Gem and Mineral Society at the Tucson Convention Center, the Pueblo Gem and Mineral show, and many smaller shows held at hotels, parking lots and tents across central Tucson during the same period. The combined event has been running annually since the original Tucson Gem and Mineral Show was launched in 1955 by the Tucson Gem and Mineral Society.

JCK Coverage

JCK Online and JCK magazine cover the Tucson shows extensively each year, with daily news coverage during the show period, photo galleries, market analysis, and coverage of new gemstone discoveries, treatments and trends. The Tucson shows are the principal annual occasion on which new coloured-stone discoveries are first presented to the international trade, and JCK's coverage is consequently a key channel through which trade attention reaches the wider industry.

JCK and AGTA GemFair

JCK does not own or operate any of the major Tucson shows. The principal coloured-stone industry event at Tucson is the AGTA GemFair Tucson, operated by the American Gem Trade Association. JCK's coverage and JCK Las Vegas are commercially separate operations from the AGTA's events. The two organisations cooperate editorially and through industry programmes but maintain distinct trade-show operations.