FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Gerhard Niklasch]

Roger, you ran right past me on two occasions, and were far away before I could shout! :)

(And no doubt I must have been equally blind towards someone else - still suffering from total sensory overload...)

The collectors' showcases are always full of nice surprises, and almost always impossible to photograph due to the bright reflections in the inclined glass covers. Still, a few shots seem to work. Topics varied widely; some of the examples below, however, echo the "European Classics" theme and add yet more perspectives to it.

[Jordi Fabre]

It seems that many photos will land to this thread during next days-weeks, and many related with the great exhibit "European Classics", so before they arrive I selected two that may not will be the most famous but they deserves to be, and one hyper aesthetic Beryl with a very interesting provenance, Karelia Beryl Mine, Finland.

Photos: Jordi Deusedes & Jordi Fabre

[strahler]

Here are some of my photos from the show.

[strahler]

More Photos.

[Carles Millan]

Two different shots of a gigantic sulfur specimen from the Riccardo Prato collection. (The photos have very low quality since they were taken on the fly with my cell phone.)

It must be between 40 cm and 50 cm tall, and comes from the Cozzodisi mine, Casteltermini, Girgenti, Sicilia, Italy.

Not for sale! It was exposed at the European Classics display.

[Jordi Fabre]

Bombshell!. Although the rumor was spreading during the Fair at Munich, only now it can it be confirmed that, although it was expected that the change would occur slowly, special circumstances have forced the Sainte Marie-aux-Mines Show to move to Colmar in 2012.

Michel Schwab will soon publish a more complete official explanation that we will try to reproduce here, but it is now confirmed that Ste. Marie 2012 will be in Colmar.

[Martin Stevko]

Some more pictures from European Classics displays at Munich show.

[Martin Stevko]

Some more pictures....

[Tobi]

DSCN0265.JPG (giant blue fluorite) ---> From Le Burg, France?

DSCN0158.JPG (the three exceptional, stunning, terrific Neudorf galenas) ---> I'm drooling over this picture!!! :-)

Thanks to all who took photos of that wonderful European classics! And thanks to Gerhard who captured some impressions from the collection of Archduke Stephan - the man with the most beautiful mineral labels in history :-)

[Jordi Fabre]

People have asked (mostly in FMF Spanish side ) why Spain was not so well represented in the great exhibit "European Classics" of this Munich 2011, which is a good question. It is a long story to be frank. They worked hard seeking to obtain specimens from the large European museums, which always takes a long time and a lot of effort, and other things got in the way... so to obtain major Spanish specimens for this show was complicated and luck was not on our side, so a decision was made in the end that, instead of few presented rocks obtained badly in the last minute, it was better to wait.....

Why do I say wait? Because an idea has already started. The idea is try to prepare in few years more (at least eight years) an exhibit of "Spain" in Munich (maybe not just Spain, but certainly dominated by Spain) with the idea that if this were done well and prepared with enough time it would be possible to do something really spectacular. In fact something that has never been done before, as it would be possible to reunite the best specimens of Spanish minerals that are spread across the museums around the world (we all have a list in our heads, for example the Horcajo Pyromophites in the School of Mines in Paris and the Geology Museum in Barcelona, the Freieslebenites from the School of Mines in Madrid...), as well as the best specimens from private collections, including some that have never ever been shown before.

What was on show from Spain this year was not, in reality, that great when compared with what could be assembled in such a show, so you can just imagine what a future exhibition year might look like if it were to be around the theme "Spain" (or "Iberian Peninsular") and also you have to be aware that it will take time to get this to happen if it is to be done well...

A great dream, isn't it?

[James Catmur]

Jordi

That would be fantastic and I would really look forward to it. It would be great if the Munich Show could assemble the great specimens from the museums and private collections - now all you need to do it find them (I do wonder what else there is out there that we do not know about. hidden in the back rooms of the great European museums or in private collections?)

If you need anything from my modest collection of Spanish material it would be available, of course.

James

[David]

I was glad to visit Mineralientage, it was a nice show, although I didn't find everything I expected to find.
I believe every country should be represented, because all of them have something interesting to offer. Well maybe except Monaco, Vatican and a few others, for obvious reasons.
I have a question for everyone: What did you acquire from the show?

[strahler]

The European exhibit was so great, here are some more photos.

[Jesse Fisher]

A few photos of this year's show, starting first with the European Classics exhibit. In general, I would say that the exhibit was strong in some areas such as English minerals, Kongsberg silvers, and French fluorite, while lacking in other areas. As mentioned by Jordi, there were few Spanish localities featured, almost none of the recent output from from Romania, and nothing at all from Russia. I will assume that the selection depended largely on the willingness of specimen owners to participate, but what was present was of incredible quality.

[Jordi Fabre]

As usual, many other pictures and descriptions in the namesake Spanish thread -> https://www.foro-minerales.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=65826#65826