Beneath the shade of a straw cowboy hat, Bodie Packham’s eyes followed a crystal quartz pendulum in circles as he dangled it in the air.

The pendulums, one of many items that Packham and other vendors displayed Saturday at the 58th annual Four Corners Gem & Mineral Show, supposedly possess predictive powers similar to a magic eight ball, spinning or stopping in response to a person’s energy.

“Some people will even dangle them over their lettuce at the grocery store and say, ‘Should I buy this lettuce?’” said Kim Packham, who co-owns Runnin’ Boar Minerals with her husband, Bodie.

The Packhams, from Divide, began mining for amazonite in 2002 and since have expanded to do their own jewelry work and sell other gems and minerals, Kim Packham said.

The couple consider themselves newcomers to the mining community and enjoy opportunities to meet and learn from other vendors who are experienced in the trade.

Though it is only their fifth year at the show, Bob Holder and Sandy Cleveland, who own Desert Rain Designs, have been mining since childhood.

Holder first began mining in the ruby mines of North Carolina with his grandfather at age 4, while Cleveland was introduced to the mines in West Texas at age 6, when her mother took a college geology course.

“It’s in our blood,” she said.

In all his years of mining, Holder has come across so many treasures that he can’t pick a favorite.

“I’ve seen everything, crystal pockets big enough for you and me to sit inside and have a cup of coffee,” he said.

Holder was one of many vendors to call mining “highly addictive,” and the extensive collection of stones and gems in front of him proved his point.

While items at the show ranged from turquoise pendants to sharks’ teeth, some vendors specialized in a specific item.

Opals are the mineral of choice for Sandy Craig, owner of Orca Gems and Opals.

Doing most of his digging in Nevada, Craig has been mining for 20 years.

Among Craig’s collection was a black opal that glistened inside a tube big enough to hold a tennis ball.

Attendees marveled as they weaved between tables, which for Vickie Sutton were full of inspiration and supplies.

Sutton, who makes jewelry for herself, commuted from Allison to attend the show, and she bought strands of beads resembling hibiscus flowers, pieces of rare jasper and several polished stones called cabichons.

Both vendors and shoppers alike marveled at the booths set up around the La County Fairgrounds, full of people as rare and unique as their products.

“We’re a dying breed, you just don’t meet that many miners any more,” Bodie Packham said, yet a few young faces playing at the Durango Diggers gold panning station and gazing at their grandparents’ collections seemed to hold the promise of diamonds in the rough.

scook@durangoherald.com