Tucked beneath the back of the stairs at the Ramada by Wyndham Tucson, 777 W. Cushing Street, Eritrean-born Huruy Zerzghi happily sells opals to anyone interested. But these are not just any opals; they come from Ethiopia.
National and international visitors will converge on various locations throughout the city for the 2025 Tucson Gem and Mineral and Fossil shows. The Ramada by Wyndham hosts the Pueblo Gem and Mineral show, where Ethiopian Opals and Gems by Huruy Zerzghi sells.
He’s found from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 30, Tuesday, Feb. 11, in booth ME 640.
The owner of Downtown’s Café Desta, he said he started manning the booth 15 years ago as a favor.
“I was helping my friends, and somehow I got interested,” he said.
Besides that, “I enjoy the company,” he added.
Then again, as the owner of Downtown’s Cafe Desta, Zerzghi knows a lot of people.
“I was able to connect the business of the café with the gem show,” he said. “A lot of my customers at the gem show come to the cafe.”
With opals, there are distinctions based on where they are mined.
“We have all kinds of opal; we call them crystal opal, which are specimens,” he said. “They’re not the best for cutting. We have chocolate or fire opals… We also have the hydrophane opal, which features a range of colors like blue and red.
A hydrophane opal has significant water content, and when placed in water, it reveals its colors and becomes translucent.
As beautiful as they are, however, Ethiopian opals require special care. While a person can bathe with a hard, rugged Australian opal, Ethiopian opals demand more diligence due to their relative fragility.
“They are softer,” Zerzghi said. “Their formation is different. The Ethiopian opals result from volcanic eruptions, but the Australian opals are sedimentary in nature. They are stronger and more expensive.”
Australian opal prices reflect their strength, but at Zerzghi’s table, a shopper can score a good-sized opal for less than $100.
Zerzghi has quite a few opals to sell, but that has not always been the case.
“I had a problem with the source, how to get the gems from Ethiopia,” he said. “There was some war.”
In fact, when a person buys an Ethiopian crystal opal, they support many individuals who have handled the stones before they reach Tucson.
First and foremost are the miners who unearth them. Most miners are also farmers looking for ways to support themselves and their families.
“The farmers mine in the mountains… that’s how they support their lives,” Zerzghi said.
“It’s not a big company. These are just farmers. They have a farmers’ association, and they mine these stones to make a living. This mining area is affected by war, and sometimes there’s been no mining for a long time. So it’s kind of a support for the farmers.”
Zerzghi is happy about being in Tucson. He sees the Tucson Gem and Mineral and Fossil shows as a vital aspect of that. He will proudly tell you that this is the largest gem and mineral show in the world. Participating in the show is important to him.
“It’s a good way to share and help make Tucson shine brighter and better,” Zerzghi said. Plus, “We have a big show over in the African village. That’s a great opportunity to see artifacts from Africa. The show is one way to own something from another part of the world.”
This season isn’t just beneficial for the dealers; Zerzghi noted that his cafe benefits as well.
“During the gem show, we are crowded,” he said.
For the opals that do not sell, their journey is not yet over. They will be shipped to Germany, where the second-largest gem and mineral show occurs. Zerzghi will return to his cafe, but that is not his only job. He is also a microbiologist; he earned his advanced degrees at the UA.
Ethiopian Opals and Gems by Huruy Zerzghi
WHEN: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Jan. 30 through Feb. 11
WHERE: Booth ME 640, Ramada by Wyndham Tucson, 777 W. Cushing Street, Tucson
PRICE: Free admission
INFO: visittucson.org
This article appears in Jan 23-30, 2025.
