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Old Pueblo Lapidary Club

Tucson's lapidary club since 1970, with its own clubhouse and workshops

Meets
Monthly, usually the 2nd Saturday morning (social hour 8 am, meeting 9 am)
Where
Clubhouse, 3118 N Dale Ave, Tucson
Interests
Lapidary, faceting, silversmithing, casting, minerals, field collecting
Classes
Hands-on classes for all levels, plus open shop and lab time
Field trips
Yes, around Arizona
Newsletter
Cutting Remarks
Beginners
No experience or equipment needed
Member of
American and Rocky Mountain federations of mineralogical societies

Club with field trips for members

Based in Tucson, Arizona.

lapidaryclub.org ↗

Email:

Prospect on your own near Tucson

9 gem and mineral spots on open public land with no claim on record, within 50 miles.

There are more on the map, some of them with a possible mining claim.

Open the gem and mineral map around Tucson →

Prospecting and collecting rules in Arizona →

About Old Pueblo Lapidary Club

The Old Pueblo Lapidary Club was organized in Tucson in 1970 to spread knowledge of the lapidary arts, the craft of cutting and polishing stone, along with related fields: mineralogy and the earth sciences, metalworking, design, enameling and engraving.

Unlike most clubs, this one owns its place. Its clubhouse on N Dale Ave, east of Alvernon and south of Fort Lowell, holds the shops and the machines: saws and grinders for cabbing, faceting machines for cutting gemstones with flat polished faces, and benches for silversmithing and casting. Members learn in hands-on classes for every level and then come back during open shop and lab hours to work on their own stones. The club's own line is that you don't need experience or equipment to start.

Monthly meetings are usually held on a Saturday morning, the second of the month, with a social hour at 8 am and the meeting at 9. The programs give an idea of the club: in October 2026 a talk on the Purple Passion Mine and on fluorescent minerals and lamps, in November one on Arizona's silver belt. In November the club also holds its yearly silent auction of lapidary material, minerals and equipment, which reached its 24th edition in 2026.

Field trips around Arizona mix time outdoors with collecting material to cut later, and there is a club library and a newsletter, Cutting Remarks, with issues online. The club belongs to the Rocky Mountain and American federations of mineralogical societies, and its members put a display of their own lapidary work at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show in 2026.

For a rockhound, a lapidary club closes the circle. The agate, jasper and petrified wood you pick up on public land look dull in the desert; cut and polished they become something else, and a shop like this is where you learn to do it yourself.

Other clubs and places nearby

Where to buy gear nearby

Sources