FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Jordi Fabre]

This year the report on the Barcelona Show, Expominer, is so complex and interesting that honestly I can't afford to translate it all into English. The report of the Show generated an intense discussion between different collectors about not only the show, but also the actual status of mineralogy in Spain, in Europe, and in the world, as well as the position of vendors, customers and the relationship in Shows between jewelry and mineralogy.

That said I can't do much more than supply the links so that you can see this heated debate. If you can follow texts in the Spanish language, I'm sure that you will enjoy them a lot; otherwise, at least you have several images, just to have an idea about the last Expominer Show.

If by chance someone wishes to translate the main texts into English, I'm sure that it will be more than welcome for all English speakers, otherwise the Spanish text is there and so it will remain. If you are able to read it or to find someone who can help translating it for you, please do it, it is worth the effort. Please visit:

https://www.foro-minerales.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1424

and

https://www.foro-minerales.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1446

Jordi

[alfredo]

Those who read Italian might be interested in some related comments about the Verona show on the following Mindat thread: https://www.mindat.org/mesg-21-96530.html

[Jordi Fabre]

I'm curious Alfredo, what is your opinion?

Jordi

[alfredo]

Jordi, My opinion is a bit more optimistic than some of the other posters.

TOO MUCH JEWELLERY AND MYSTICAL HEALY-FEELY ROCKS AT MINERAL SHOWS! ....seems to be the principal complaint.... I class myself as a "serious" mineral collector, and I'm sure you think of yourself the same way, Jordi, and most everyone else who participates in this forum too, but why should we complain about the bead sellers and mystical scam artists? We all know that only a few thousand people are interested in minerals, while many millions are interested in decorating themselves with beads, so of course the pretty polished stuff has a much bigger market and attracts both more buyers and more sellers, and a few of those buyers will come to the show and be exposed to real minerals for the first time, which cannot be bad for us.
Furthermore, it is these "rubbish sellers" who enable the biggest mineral shows to exist. Without them, we would not be able to rent large venues and enjoy the international displays put on by shows like Tucson (TGMS), Denver and Munich. Limiting shows exclusively to "real mineral" dealers would mean that all mineral shows would be small shows, which certainly would not be able to pay foreign curators to come and display their treasures, which i find an important educational feature of the larger shows.
Other posters were complaining that with all the mystical rubbish and jewelery, they couldn't find enough interesting new minerals to buy. I haven't been to the Expominer or Verona shows, so I can not judge them, but I assume they have similar proportions of mineral and jewelery dealers as shows in the USA or Germany, i.e. the same "problem". If I may compare with Munich, if Munich has about 800 dealers, and only 50 of them sell "real" minerals, why should we complain? Regrettably I can buy only a minuscule fraction of the material 50 dealers bring, and I always see some new interesting material, and I always later read about new things in the show reports for those shows that I missed seeing myself. So when a person complains "I couldn't find anything new at the show" - I must conclude that he is either 1) blind; 2) not paying attention; or 3) is in the wrong hobby.
Some posters are complaining about "crazy" prices. Yes, of course some dealers have very high prices, others have reasonable prices... one must patiently shop around and compare, and don't buy from the greedy ones. If the rock you really desperately want to have has a "crazy" price on it, and it's the only one like it at the show, and nobody has a similar specimen for a cheaper price... well, that's a good reason for the high price, isn't it? It's hard to argue with the Law of Supply and Demand.
One or two posters were complaining about more personal issues, like squabbles with show organizing committees. Well, every human organization suffers from personal rivalries and disharmonies, not just mineral societies. Organizing a mineral show is not an easy task, and pleasing everybody is never possible. Personally I never want to take on such a thankless task, and I admire those who do. I would recommend to the complainers that they organize their own show and I wish them lots of success!

[Jordi Fabre]

I agree Alfredo. In fact I'm also optimistic, you can see this on my post (wrote on Spanish language): https://www.foro-minerales.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=11882#11882 .
Curiously, I expressed there very similar ideas to yours....

Jordi

[alfredo]

Continuing what I was writing about in the previous post:
One or two people even complained about the vast horde of school children who bought great quantities of 50 cent minerals on Friday at Expominer. (Don't we sometimes hear the same grumbling from dealers at the TGMS show in Tucson?) To all the ambulatory fossils out there who are bothered by noisy children: Be helpful to the noisy brats! They are our future! Who will your offspring sell your collection to after you pass on to the happy mine dumps in the sky?
I don't want to give the impression that all the comments on the Spanish forum about the Expominer show were negative, far from it; I've only responded to the more negative comments. There were of course plenty of people who enjoyed the show, found new specimens to buy, met old friends... Humans are still social animals and there are friendly interactions at shows which would be much less personal if shows did not exist and we had to restrict our interaction with fellow collectors to the internet.