FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Tracy]

Anybody interested in meeting up with me in Springfield at this year's East Coast Mineral Show (August 8-10)? I am hoping to be there on Friday the 8th - and will take lots of photos to share with anyone who wants to see them! :-) If interested, let me know.

Tracy

[alfredo]

Hi Tracy,
It will be fun to chat, if you have time to drop by. I have a table near the bathroom - They tell me it's a good spot as everyone needs to go by there eventually! I think the Obodda's collection is the one on display this year, which will undoubtedly be worth seeing.
Cheers,
Alfredo

[Tracy]

Hi Alfredo -

Will happily come looking for you, and NOT just because I'm in need of a bathroom break! Will you be easy to recognize without the hat and eagle? :-) See you there!

Tracy

[alfredo]

Hi Tracy, Look for a tall, skinny, scruffy-looking guy at space # 19. You'd better introduce yourself, or else I'll be watching out for a grey kitten!
Cheers,
Alfredo

[Gail]

I will be arriving on the Wed. evening. I am a guest speaker on Friday at 4 p.m. drop on by and listen in or say hello after? I have made up a fun talk and lots of photos of our pieces. Jim, my husband, flies in a little after I get through. His parents are coming in for the talk also as they live a few hours drive from there. Then I expect to enjoy the whole weekend talking minerals, haggling over minerals, drooling over minerals, and adding some to our collection. We are off to the Harvard Museum on Monday, anyone care to join us there?
We are staying overnight and flying home on Tuesday.
This is my first time to attend the show and am pleased to do so. I grew up in the East Coast of Massachusetts, along the South Shore of Boston, so might even manage a drink or two with some high school buddies.
We are also booked for Denver, I always enjoy that show...at least when a certain older ex-vacuum cleaner type mineral dealer isn't chasing around after me!

By the way, we had auctioned a dinner and private mineral show at our home last year at the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science gala ball and it sold to the Walkers from California. They came in with a few friends for dinner on Saturday and we had a blast! I stayed up till after three a.m. on Friday...wtih Dave Bunk and Jim....and then stayed up close to that time with the Walkers on Saturday. Needless to say that Sunday was a total "do nothing" day!
I am not as young as I used to be it seems!

But, what fun eh? All great memories to look back on. Check out this new piece we added this week.... cheers, Gail

See you soon Tracy, Alfredo!

[Gail]

PS..Jim and I are the Guest exhibitors at this show next year and hope to learn a thing or two from Herb and Moni Obodda this year. 53 cases to fill. goodness!

[Gail]

A photo from the Saturday night dinner.....

[Tracy]

Took a while to get plans organized, but looks good for us to visit on Friday. Camera will be in hand and I'm ready to serve as Jordi's roving reporter. Gail: not sure how long I will stay but will try to find you if we are still there after 4. Alfredo: well, Squiggle is much cuter than I am (she's almost a year old now), but just to prove I'm not grey or feline, here's a semi-decent pic of me.

Looking forward to meeting you two in Springfield...and anyone else who recognizes me in the crowd! :-)

[Gail]

I finally got to meet Tracy and Sue, her friend. What fun to actually have a real person to talk to and not just type messages to.
Alfredo is here, we have met up and visited at his booth. Jim got to enjoy meeting Alfredo and chat about minerals also.
Met many folks I have emailed with and it has been a great weekend here, so far, in Springfield. My talk was fun and went over very well.
Off to walk all the aisles today, we haven't seen much of the show as we had a private 6 1/2 hour tour of each case the Oboddas put in, all 53 of them. That was yesterday. The worst part of much of this is the hard concrete floor, so I have sneakers with small springs in the sole for today.
Here is a photo.....will write more later.
Gail

[Jordi Fabre]

It is so nice to get your reportages, thank you for it!.

Waiting your next columns as well as the Tracy's one.

Jordi

[Gail]

Herb and Moni Obodda after working to set up fifty three cases of exhiibits with no air conditioning ( on this day ) on hard concrete floors! By the way? These are the NICEST people!

[Tracy]

My report on the show...as told from the perspectives of one who hasn't been to a show in 14 years (me) and one who has never been before (Sue). We only attended on Friday, but it was a wonderful day full of things to see, hear and touch. Will start from the beginning....

Part 1: Arriving at the show.

We drove up from New Jersey early in the morning and reached the Convention Center just after 10:30. Along the way we got a little laugh from the deejays on a local radio station who talked about the mineral and fossil show and discussed who wanted to be known as "Mineral" and who as "Fossil." Although the show only started at 10:00, the parking lot was already more than half full when we got there, and more cars were steadily arriving. Sue overheard one parking attendant tell another that she had never seen the show so busy on the opening Friday. It seemed that the show was off to a great start.

Although we brought a camera, we were dismayed to find out that photographs were not allowed at the show without written permission! Nobody we spoke to seemed to know who decided to create this rule, because it was new for the show. We got verbal permission from one dealer to take pictures, and my thought was to move around the room taking picures of great pieces and request permission as we went. But as it turned out, we quickly forgot about photos because there was so much to look at. Rather than share the one or two pictures we took at the first booth, I am posting two photos for which permission was not required.... :-)

[Tracy]

Part 2: The morning.

We entered the exhibit hall and didn’t know where to go first. I decided to start by locating and introducing myself to all the people I’ve gotten to know on the Internet. It really makes a difference to know somebody in person rather than just by email. Everyone was warm, friendly, happy to talk to and share knowledge, and just a pleasure to meet. We got some very helpful advice from several dealers on how to comparison-shop and negotiate for deals. We even got an offer of free accommodations should we plan on coming to Tucson – wow!

We located Alfredo easily, despite the lack of eagle/hat and the fact that his booth wasn’t as close to the bathrooms as he made it out to sound. :-) Had a lovely conversation and went away with information about other upcoming area shows and some valuable mineral knowledge. Alfredo, it was a pleasure to talk to you and I will be looking for you in Franklin next month.

After that we spent more time meeting and talking to other dealers. And from there we started looking at the rocks! Specimens, carvings, jewelry, decorative items, etc etc. We wandered all over – absolutely right Gail, the concrete floors were pretty hard on the feet – and saw many marvelous things.

At the last minute before leaving home, I had grabbed my apophyllite mystery specimen and took it to Springfield. Which proved fortunate, because we found Dennis Beals and I was able to show it to him. Dennis agrees that my specimen comes from Guanajuato; I will share more details soon in the “mystery specimen” topic because his comments were quite interesting.

Part 3: Mid-afternoon.

After chatting with Dennis and a taking quick break for lunch we went to see the Obodda exhibit. Having read John’s wonderful article about Herb in the latest issue of Mineralogical Record, I was already expecting to see a wonderful exhibit, and was definitely not disappointed. The diversity and beauty of his collection is truly extraordinary. Beautiful minerals, carvings, figurines, books and more. Each display case had something more amazing than the previous one. I really regret that we couldn’t leave with photos.

By now it was ~3:30 and we had to be in Boston by 6:00. I took a chance that Gail would be in the presentation room before her talk, so even though we couldn’t stay we stopped by to say hi. I’m so glad she was there! As you said, Gail, nothing is more rewarding than to meet a “real” person. Sue and I look forward to seeing you again soon and I’m sure we’ll be emailing some more in no time. I’m glad your presentation went well.

After meeting Gail, we took care of some last-minute things, then headed out with a few goodies, exhausted from walking so much but both having enjoyed the show. Overall assessment of the day: FUN!!!

Part 4: Additional thoughts.

To me, some of the most fascinating parts of the show were the things I saw and heard. I watched collectors inspect specimens for signs of damage and repair. I got tips on the best way to remove glue from specimens. I handled specimens and did one-on-one comparisons. I compared labels and prices from different dealers, and listened to how they interacted with potential customers. I paid attention to how it felt to spot a “wow” specimen among a bunch of “hey, that’s interesting” pieces. All of which made me realize two things: 1) I still have much more to learn (not a bad thing at all); and 2) going to a show has distinct advantages over shopping online, because seeing something for real is different from looking at pictures. And, I’ve thought of a new question which I intend to ask more often: “how do you know that?” What better way to learn than that?

I definitely plan to visit more shows going forward (and with luck will be able to take pictures next time), and I hope to meet many more collectors along the way and get to know them. Like me, Sue enjoyed meeting people and learning from them, and I hope she will continue to come with me on my adventures.

I encourage others who were in Springfield to add their own personal thoughts on the show, and welcome any comments on my report.

- Tracy

[Gail]

pssst Tracy?? Their collection, not His collection.
She is just as much intertwined in it as he is.
Gail

[Tracy]

My Bad - THE OBODDA Collection.. :-/

[Tracy]

In case that sounds more flippant than I meant it to be - Herb and Moni, you two have amassed an awesome collection. I am in awe. Apologies for getting it wrong, no disrespect intended...and thanks Gail for setting me straight!

- Tracy

[Tracy]

As a coda to my report: here are two photos of the one specimen I bought while at Springfield. It's a cluster of heavily etched yellow fluorite cubes from Minerva #1 Mine, Cave-In-Rock District, Illinois. About 8.5 x 8 x 6 cm. The specimen is more yellow than in the photos (there are hydrocarbon stains on the underside) and is crystallized on all sides except at one point of attachment. Nothing exotic, but I find it sculptural and it is very 3-dimensional in person. A fun specimen which fits nicely into my hand and is interesting to look at from different angles.

[Pete Modreski]

Tracy,

So, yes, thanks also for your comments & perspective on the East Coast show; it's been interesting to read them all. And the most remarkable thing you said--wow, 14 years since you'd been to a mineral show!

Your picture of the show entrance (and a very unassuming entrance & sign it is, aren't they), is amusing with the prominent view of the brace of ATM machines; implies something about "what you need if you want to be in here", does it?

And I like your "modern art" Minerva fluorite!

Pete

[mmauthner]

Hi Tracy, Gail,
Enjoyed your show reports. Thanks for that. I so wish I had been able to go.

Cheers,
Mark

[Tracy]

Thanks Pete and Mark. Pete, I haven't been to a show for 14 years for reasons not worth going into on the Forum (though I'm happy to explain one-on-one). I've dreamed of making it to Tucson the whole time - and who knows, with this offer of free accomodations...you might see me there soon! :-) I'm enjoying chatting with all of you on this Forum meanwhile.

- Tracy