FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Sante Celiberti]

Hello.

I know it may seem cynical to talk about a hobby's annual final balance when the whole world is grappling with the daily balance of its deaths.
But it seems that our mineralogical community has decided that "the show must go on"...
Which might be a wise way to alleviate the heaviness of these troubled times, provided we don't take our eyes off the tragedy around us.

The year that has just ended has seen the suppression of almost all mineralogical fairs worldwide. And it is well known that for most of us, fairs are the greatest opportunity to add new specimens to our collections.
On more than one occasion, the withdrawal syndrome has emerged in our posts.
Personally I'm not ashamed to admit it.

Still, I consider myself very lucky to have been able to participate in two of the very few Italian fairs (Massa Marittima and Turin), thanks to which I added a few dozen pieces to my collection (exactly 67 versus around 200 that I was used to purchasing in past years).

I think of you, European and American friends, and I wonder how it went for you.

I attach some of the specimens bought in Turin, waiting to hopefully hear positive experiences from other collectors.

Warm greetings and stay healthy.
Sante

[Pete Richards]

Hi Sante,

I did not add much to my collection this year, but I certainly enjoy seeing your additions! The anatase, brookite, and particularly the fluorite are pieces I would be glad to have in my collection. Congratulations!

[bob kerr]

At the suggestion of a friend, I have waited until now to start opening all the specimens I picked up at last year's Tucson show. They've been sitting in a closet for almost a year now, so as a new year's present to myself I'll be opening one or two every week through February - all the time lamenting the loss of this year's shows.

bob

[Michael Shaw]

Hello Sante,

I'm glad that you were able to attend the 2 shows and congratulations on these additions to your collection. I had never really thought of adding up the final balance for 2020. If you had asked me, I probably would have given you an answer similar to Pete's. However, when I added up the 2020 additions, I was a bit surprised to find that my collection grew by 75 specimens this past year. About half of these were acquired at the Tucson Show, which we were very lucky to have attended without getting ill. Many of the specimens can be seen in my collection thread, with the exception of some very recent acquisitions.

Bob, all I can say is you have some amazing willpower. All of our Tucson treasures were opened within a couple hours of arriving home :>) Enjoy your finds. Nice Vanadinite.

Michael

[Carles Millan]

[Tobi]

Sante, you could really add some nice things to your collection! My year started with two nice additions I really love:

https://www.mineral-forum.com/message-board/viewtopic.php?p=74069#74069
https://www.mineral-forum.com/message-board/viewtopic.php?p=74070#74070

They were purchased online but both from dealers who for sure suffer from all the cancelled shows and other restrictions during this horrible times. I hope that a time will come when normal life returns and such things like mineral shows will take place again. It will be a long road and, looking at the worldwide news, I fear 2021 will become even worse than 2020 :-(

I hope you all will stay safe and healthy and that we all may see better days!

Best regards
Tobi

And Bob, though Michael calls it an "amazing" willpower and Carles an "incredible" willpower, I think this is an INSANE willpower ;-) ;-) ;-)

[bob kerr]

Here's another two specimens from my 2020 Tucson Shows cache. These pink octahedral fluorites from Huanggang made their debut in Denver 2019 but seemed to be much more common and more reasonably priced in Tucson 2020 - although still a bit expensive.

These are essentially all included with needles of hedenbergite - too much hedenbergite though darkens the crystals and the pinkish color gets washed out.

It was easy to find loose single floaters but you had to go through many to find ones with minimal damage and good color. Some are VERY large but mostly damaged and darkened by the hedenbergite. A few groups of crystals were available but the price jumped way up and a smaller few were on matrix and these were quite expensive.

This may be a one time find - probably best to get one now while the getting is good.

more to follow,
bob

[Jesse Fisher]

As I generally do not purchase specimens on the internet, things have been slow since Tucson last February. I did recently come up with this nice baveno-twin microcline and smoky quartz combo from Tawara, Japan.

[Sante Celiberti]

Hello, Pete. How are you?
Warm thanks for your very friendly words which I really appreciate.

Hi, Michael. I hope you are fine.
Thank you for your kind comment.
75 new specimens are a quite good number, considering the times.
Congratulations on your amazing collection that I never tire of admiring.

Hi, Tobi. Wie gehts?
You only added two pieces to your collection last year, but they are worth much more than the sum of mine...
And, yes, I agree that, at least in Europe, 2021 will have more or less the same trend of the 2020. It's a pity for our hobby, but life, health and economy must have the priority.
P.S.: Would you, please, send to me a PM? I sent one to you a few months ago, but unfortunately it didn't reach you. I have determined that I can answer, but I cannot be the first to write. :-)

Hello, Bob. How do you do?
What an original and nice suggestion from your friend! What a rewarding way to start a hopefully less penurious year than the past one!
And what about your stoic willpower? I normally open the packages on the journey home (perhaps because I was educated by the Jesuits to keep desires in check... ah,ah,ah).
Thanks for sharing with us your captures in Tucson. We are all opening "your" packets with you... :-)

Everyone stay healthy.
Sante

[Tobi]

[bob kerr]

OK - one or two more and I'll call it quits. I've been buying from South African dealer Clive Queit since the Desert Inn days. He always brings in very nice material at (usually) reasonable prices. I couldn't resist these two Erongo Aquas - big brother and little brother.

bob

[Tobi]

[Philippe Durand]

Well gentlemen,

I am used to buying either on the internet and at 2 or 3 shows during the year.
Usually I do not buy many specimens, trying to concentrate on sleepers.

But in 2020 I was really in withdrawal of seeing a lot of minerals personally.

This summer I was lucky to have a private viewing of an outstanding private collection of Mont Blanc minerals. Seeing, manipulating these marvels gave me my drug dose :)

I also had the thrill of buying some minerals just coming from the vugs.

Hopefully I have another hobby for my extra money lol.

[Bergur_E_Sigurdarson]

I have been "stuck" in Colombia since the end of 2019, so no shows for me.

I did manage a couple of visits to mines before quarantine.

I did though manage to find myself an Christmas present. A very nice quartz cluster with matrix.

I only have crappy phonecam video and pics. Better ones later in my collection page.

Still working on the exact location it came from, so currently just giving the country.

[Chris Rayburn]

That's a beauty Bergur, congratulations. Is that a Japan Law twin I see at around 10 o'clock in the bottom photo?