The Coop Mineral and Fossil Gallery

The Coop Mineral and Fossil Gallery is a large warehouse of assorted business. Most of the businesses sell fossils and minerals. There is one business selling petrified wood table tops and coffee tables on a grand scale. Wonderful sights. Parking right outside the warehouse.

A mix of amazing - and amazingly expensive - large fossils and minerals, along with a lot of polished and prepared rocks, minerals and fossils. This place is definitely more expensive than other gem, mineral and fossil outlets in town but you'll find some very nice pieces.

We're not fossil-folk, but enjoy visiting the Mineral & Fossil Co-Op each year around the time of the Tucson Gem show. We don't really buy anything...we just go for the entertainment value, which is why this review is 5 stars.This is a permanent building on Oracle, past a delightfully sketchy and run down array of 1960s motels (I'm talking about you, Notel Motel). In the few years that I've been the co-op is anchored by a large fossil dealer to the right of the entrance, and the dinosaur fossil exhibit at the far end of the entrance. Here, the fossils of various dinosaurs and mammoths are fused together with wires and displayed in their actual sizes. The shapes of embedded tortoises and giant fish are hung on the wall, while glass cases display antique polished rocks and minerals in the shapes of skulls, salamanders, and so on. There was also a large (maybe 6-7 feet?), exquisitely polished grey, Shiva Lingham rock on display, I overheard the desperate seller say to a potential customer, "This rock was found and polished in India. I usually sell this for $80,000, but today you can get it for $50,000." Buyer beware.The large store at the front of the entrance sells minerals, stones, shark teeth, embedded fossils, highly polished sinks, plates, bowls, platters and margarita bars of different stones and minerals with or without fossil embeddment. Prices are marked (overpriced) but can be negotiated. Its highlight is a mammothic-sized shark's jaw, as large as their display window. As I write this review, I take a thoughtful bite out of my breakfast croissant which is lovingly placed on purple plate embedded with what looks like a probably-fake garden-variety snail, I ponder on the millions of years of history that are displayed at the fossil co-op, and whether I could've talked down the purple plate (non-microwavable and dishwasher unsafe) by another dollar.

Super, best place in Town, if your at the gem and mineral shows in Tucson in February every year. Well worth a visit

We go to the gem and mineral shows in Tucson in February every year. This year we found this fantastic location that is not well known. It is a real classy operation. Everything is displayed in a very professional manner that you would expect of a museum store. The prices are not bad, they are not as rock bottom as some of the dealers from Morocco at Electric Park but quality is better. Much of the place has extremely high quality fossils, much of which is pricey, but really fun to look at. There is also a collection of quartz crystals for Arkansas that are Smithsonian quality. One quartz specimen is about 10 feet high and is for sale for a cool 3 mil. They also have fossils from $5 and up. It is on the shuttle route and you do not need a dealer license to get in.