FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[David]

Which do you think is the best city in the world to meet fellow mineral collectors? (Not taking into account major international mineral fairs)

[Riccardo Modanesi]

Hi David!
Do you admit also towns located close to the main mines (i.e. Baveno, Idar-Oberstein, Baia Sprie etc.)?
Greetings from Italy by Riccardo.

[Pierre Joubert]

The question is, to do what? If it is to use as a base to visit mineral-rich places, then I would say Windhoek, Namibia.

[gemlover]

For me it is Franklin, NC, USA. Of course, that is close to my home and I can drive there easily.

John

[Pierre Joubert]

[David]

Hello Pierre,
I've mentioned that: friendliest place to meet fellow mineral collectors.
Let me rephrase that: the city with the most mineral collectors per square mile. Hopefully it is also a friendly community.

[Tracy]

I don't think that this is a question easily answered. There are many different levels of mineral collectors, from the serious and high-end to "I find pretty rocks walking in the woods and keep them in a jar at home." It's impossible to tally up all the people who like rocks and determine where they are most highly localized. Even though your initial question excludes places where there are majo shows, I would imagine that there is a greater exposure among people living close to these, such as Tucson or Munich. But it is just a guess.

Also, what's your definition of "city?"

- Tracy

[Susan Robinson]

You mentioned to not take into account mineral/gem fairs - what about places where major mineral symposiums are held?

[David]

Hi Riccardo,
Sure we can admit all sort of cities, towns, villages. So you’ve been to Baia Sprie? How was that, did you get anything nice from there?

[David]

Look, I am curious to know where most mineral collectors come from. My guess is most of them come from the USA, followed at a great distance probably by Germany, UK, Italy, Spain and Austria, not necessarily in that order. Obviously, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t many collectors also in other places. For instance I don’t think there are too many mineral collectors in my country although I know a few. Unfortunately FMF doesn’t seem to have a reference of collectors by country. I think that could prove useful in some cases.
I’ve introduced the city criteria because a whole country is too much, is not like you can travel all over the country to meet people. Unless that particular country is Monaco, San Marino, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Singapore.
I chose not to mention places where major mineral fairs take place because most people come there from all over the world but that doesn’t mean they can be found there for the rest of the year.

[alfredo]

David, I think you might be wrong about most mineral collectors being located in the USA. If we assume that a certain fraction (not all) mineral collectors will buy magazines and books about minerals, one can estimate from the number of books and magazines sold, and sales of mineral related publications in german is considerably higher than in english! So I draw the conclusion that most mineral collectors live in central Europe.

The UK has only a tiny handful of collectors, so strike that one from your list. I once sat at a restaurant table in Tucson with 6 British collectors and was told that half of all collectors in the UK were currently sitting at out table! An exaggeration, I hope, but it gives a clue as to why Britain has no international mineral show.

The number of collectors in China is rising rapidly, so we can expect them to be the world's biggest mineral consumers within another decade or so.

[Pierre Joubert]

I suppose the best way to find out which city takes the cake, is the one that buys the most mineral specimens on the internet (ask a dealer like Jordi). As for the friendly part, that will be a bit more difficult to establish (perhaps a city in India)

[alfredo]

For a city to be "friendly to mineral collectors", you can hardly do better than one whose Chamber of Commerce actually assigns someone the job of helping visiting collectors to find local collecting sites! Therefore I vote for Bancroft, Ontario, Canada, as the friendliest city for mineral collectors.

[Riccardo Modanesi]

Hi David!
I have been to Romania four times (cycling of course!), but not yet to Baia Sprie. I would like to visit this town and its mineral deposits. About the main question, I would vote for Idar-Oberstein or for Bramberg Pinzgau, Austria, or for any of the alpine towns in Canton Uri or Graubunden, Switzerland. But we all mustn't forget Freiberg of course!
Greetings from Italy by Riccardo.

[Gail]

Dallas, bar none!