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Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 5064
Location: Barcelona
Posted: Jun 22, 2025 01:38 Post subject: Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines 2025 - We need help!
Next week, the Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines Show starts up. This year, for various reasons, neither Carles Manresa nor Antonio López will be able to attend, and I will be there only on Wednesday the 25th, with very little time. So if no one else attending is willing to post reports, we will have very little information about the Show.
As Carles Manresa rightly says: cheer up, FMF'ers, and post here your own view of this great International Show!
Carles Manresa wrote:
Just to let you know that this year I won’t be able to attend Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines. I hope and wish that some Forum member who goes to that magnificent event can share photos, videos, or their impressions of what is Europe’s quintessential summer mineral show. More than one of us would be very grateful.
Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 5064
Location: Barcelona
Posted: Jun 22, 2025 02:03 Post subject: Re: Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines 2025 - We need help!
And what I’m going to do, to keep the interest alive while hoping that other FMF’ers will be encouraged to post their own reports, is to copy here — translated into English — the previews that Carles has been posting on the Spanish side of FMF :
Carles Manresa wrote:
The quintessential summer mineral show in Europe — and I would say in much of the world — is the Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines Show, which is about to take place imminently. Much to my regret, this year I’m unable to attend this fantastic show, but thanks to the kindness of Pina Schneller, we’re receiving the first press notes from local newspapers.
The mineral party has begun!🥳🍾🍷
Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 5064
Location: Barcelona
Posted: Jun 22, 2025 02:16 Post subject: Re: Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines 2025 - We need help!
Carles Manresa wrote:
Of course, all the information related to the show — such as activities, talks, interactive map of the fair, list of exhibitors, history of Sainte-Marie and the Val d’Argent and its mines, etc. etc. — can be found on the official website:
Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 5064
Location: Barcelona
Posted: Jun 22, 2025 02:25 Post subject: Re: Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines 2025 - We need help!
Carles Manresa wrote:
We can get a good idea of what the Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines show is like by watching the following video — published on the official website — which will appeal both to those of us who have already been and to those who are going to discover the show for the first time:
Posted: Jun 22, 2025 23:16 Post subject: Re: Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines 2025 - We need help!
Hello,
In the official customs note, I didn't see any hint of tolerance. I get the impression that Gaelle Skocibussic is reassuring non-professional exhibitors, probably rightly so.
I still have doubts about the customs officers' philosophy.
I have another piece of advice for travelers by car: the road tunnel is poorly lit and the climb up the SMM pass is too winding (departmental road 48).
I recommend taking a short detour via the Col du Bonhomme, which is national road 415.
As James rightly says, even though he’s not attending the Show, Carles continues to share with us his vision of what this Fair represents—connecting the land, the vineyards, and the silver that once brought wealth to the region.
Carles Manresa wrote:
Between the mountains that form the Vosges and the vast Rhine plain, the eastern slope is dressed in green with its vineyards at this time of year.
Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 5064
Location: Barcelona
Posted: Jun 23, 2025 11:42 Post subject: Re: Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines 2025 - Early birds!
And yes, early birds helping us have provided these images from the beginning of the Show, where, as usual, the fastest were the dealers from Morocco.
It’s like you’re here!! 🙃
Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 5064
Location: Barcelona
Posted: Jun 25, 2025 05:34 Post subject: Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines 2025 - Deep disappointment
That's life...
At 4:45 this morning, hand on the door, ready to head to the airport and fly to Sainte-Marie — a message popped up: my flight had been cancelled.
I only had one day to be there. The only way to make it work was that direct flight out and the return late tonight.
After 44 years without missing a single edition, fate decided that this year, I wouldn’t go.
Wishing the best to all who are already there or on their way — and long live Sainte-Marie!
A truly unique and different kind of Show, the most original of them all, held in a small paradise where the mines and miners of the past still shine their light, illuminating history for us
Deep disappointment - Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines 2025.jpg
Description:
Remembering Sainte-Marie, surrounded by flowers, and wearing a historic T-shirt as a tribute
Posted: Jun 25, 2025 05:39 Post subject: Re: Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines 2025 - Deep disappointment
They will miss you
Jordi Fabre wrote:
That's life...
At 4:45 this morning, hand on the door, ready to head to the airport and fly to Sainte-Marie — a message popped up: my flight had been cancelled.
Posted: Jun 25, 2025 06:54 Post subject: Re: Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines 2025 - We need help!
Hello Jordi,
I share your disappointment. I myself can no longer go to SMM in a mountainous country (!) that is difficult to access when mobility is reduced by age.
In Munich, it's different. Accessibility is total. Taxis drop you off 10 meters from the entrance, where you can use a wheelchair for a small deposit that is refunded at the end.
All we can do now is read the reports of those who will be able to visit the show. Thank you to them.
Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 5064
Location: Barcelona
Posted: Jun 25, 2025 11:46 Post subject: Re: Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines 2025 - Deep disappointment
Jordi Fabre wrote:
That's life...
One of the things that makes me saddest about not being there this year is that, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Sainte-Marie, I lent them 6 pieces from my personal collection (something I never do), and just the one time I do it, I won’t be able to see them on display! 😒
Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines - Fluorite after Baryte - Porres_France.jpg
Mineral:
Fluorite after Baryte
Locality:
Les Porres Mine, Les Arcs, Vidauban, Draguignan, Var, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France
Dimensions:
15 x 9 x 6 cm (approximately)
Description:
The dimensions are approximate; I don’t have the piece with me.
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