FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[James Catmur]

They do look like they have been assembled to create these forms, but see what your tests find

[bob kerr]

A follow-up on those Indian Stalagmites - they are brilliantly assembled sculptures. Some detailed photos attached.

In the first photo you can see on the left half where specimens are glued to a "stalagmite" then the glue is sprinkled with crushed quartz to hide the interface. The right side of the photos is mostly natural chalcedony. The entire sculpture is then oiled.

In the second photo (the bottom of the sculpture) you can see 4 distinct rocks glued together then sprinkled with crushed quartz and oiled.

In the third photo you can see how the crushed quartz covers the side of the attached zeolite up to where the glue stopped and then, of course, oiled.

So, these are definitely man-made mineral "sculptures" and if they would've been clearly marked and sold as such, I would have no problem with them. However, the dealers not only repeated that they are natural but also provided the locality.

As usual - Caveat Emptor

Footnote - I did have my credit card credited with the full purchase price.

[bob kerr]

As discussed previously, Muhammad Ejaz has finally been able to find a stand that is strong enough for one of his two HUGE Pakistani Aquamarine "specimens" - this one is 1.1 meters across.

There is an even nicer piece to be displayed in the next couple of days.

It is mind-boggling to see all the incredible and HUGE Pakistani aquas at this year's shows - let's hope that Erongo can challenge them in the future.

[bob kerr]

Phil Persson in the D building had a number of new items - one was gem sphalerites from Huxingshan, China.

[bob kerr]

I visited the Crystal Classic's building called "The Tucson Fine Mineral Gallery" and was, as expected, overwhelmed with quality specimens.

As you walk through the front entrance you are greeted with a large display case that house 3 massive amethyst "towers" from Artigas Uruguay then walking around the corner there are yet 4 additional large cases each holding two additional "towers". These are much more works of art than mineral specimens but simply awe-inspiring none the less.

[bob kerr]

In the room of Nick Stolowitz, I found what I consider would be the Holy Grail of Elmwood Tennessee specimens - one specimen containing quality examples of the 4 major species found there - sphalerite, calcite, fluorite and barite. This specimen is especially interesting as it appears to have formed initially with Barite, Sphalerite and Fluorite then cracked off the vug and then the classic doubly terminated sherry colored calcite formed on the shear fracture face. A REALLY interesting and attractive specimen and if it were maybe two-three inches shorter would've joined me in my trip home.

[bob kerr]

Rocky Houndenstein in his Mineral Showcase room (kinda building F) was unwrapping some new cuprites and coppers from China. Although the cuprites are not all that large they are very lustrous and fairly well defined - and the coppers are crystalized (but again small) and one specimen had a "fern leaf" growth. I believe these started to come out last year but the ones from this year's batch are the best. see photos.

[bob kerr]

In the Min City room of Crystallize (in the D building) were three incredibly large and in excellent condition specimens:
photo 1 - is the second largest "block" of amethyst recently extracted from Austrailia
photos 2 and 3 - fluorite penetration twin - second largest
and a video of the largest of the two fluorites:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/655-dkGHR-0

[bob kerr]

Tomek in his Spirifer Room finally received his one shipment - and the fluorites are excellent - see photos.

[bob kerr]

As I mentioned previously, Mineral City has significantly improved over the last two years - not only the facilities but also the creature comforts offered. Last night (Saturday Feb 3) a major "fiesta" was held in the lots between buildings D and C.

In addition to the complimentary BBQ and soda-pop and beer, the Pink Floyd tribute band "Shine on Floyd" played many of the best Pink Floyd songs for over an hour and a half - and almost the entire Dark Side of the Moon album.

photos of the event are attached and for a taste of the entertainment, here's two videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4d0_4iwyDA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgjxnzAR5Tc

[bob kerr]

A number of fakes/frauds have been discussed in this thread and also in last year's thread. The Min City management has been cracking down on these as best they can. One example is shown below - concerning those cubic silvers from Russia.

To me though the signage is not strong enough.

[James Catmur]

Thanks you for the reports Bob

[Jordi Fabre]

[Jordi Fabre]

Regards from Gail & Jim...

[bob kerr]

Yes - there is a G Building at Min City and it houses a number of very good dealers, but the building is simply too far out of the way for good business flow. Housed in the isolated G Building is Hungary's "favorite mineral son", Laslo Gal (Laslo refers to the venue as "The G-spot" since it is so hard to find!).

Laslo has always provided wonderful cassiterites from the Viloco Mine in Bolivia and he had one that really stood out - see photo.

He also had interesting "Carbonated Sand" ball from Malyi, Hungary. see photos.

[bob kerr]

In the D building room of Well-Arranged Molecules is an excellent display of US fluorites - colorful is an understatement - see photos.

[bob kerr]

As always, a tour of Danny Trinchillo's Fine Minerals International "White House" is a viewing pleasure. They also take the award for having the best selection of chocolates. See photos.

[bob kerr]

Just south of "The White House" is the Granada Mineral Gallery. Some excellent specimens are available here.

Note in photo IMG 1276 - a closeup of an excellent tourmaline and quartz - the "apparent size" of this specimen, kinda small. Then in the next photo - IMG 1277 - you can get a better perspective at the size of this.

[bob kerr]

The Brazarte dealership in the D building were offering gemmy, lustrous and vivid blue colored fluorite from Espirito Santo, Brazil.

[bob kerr]

OK - it's time to move on to the TGMS Show - aka The Main Show. Lots of changes with respect to the mineral dealer list. The large majority of the dealers who set up there maybe 2-3 years ago are now absent. They either have their own buildings or have their own rooms in Mineral City that are essentially "permanent rooms" where they can store all their specimens and display cases - so why go through the expense and risk of tearing things down and shipping to the TGMS Show then reversing this at the end of the show. Can't blame them at all.

So, there are LOTS of new dealers who are typically smaller and more local with many more specimen options in the $200 or less range. This change gave the show a flavor of what it was 20-25 years ago.

But the special display cases were excellent and a step up from last year's cases.

The show theme was Pegmatites.

I'll start with THE annual favorite - the case put in by Jim and Gail Spann - as usual simply chock full of excellent specimens.