FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Tobi]

Just as a "teaser" here are some pics that i took on my last visit in the Marburg museum. This are specimens from a special fluorite exhibition that showed 400 fluorites from all over the world ... SUPERB fluorites ...

The first specimen is from Dal'Negorsk/Russia and has a height of approximately 13 or 14 cm, each of the neon green octahedrons (colour was much better in person) has a size of 3 cm ...

[Tobi]

Plate of green fluorite from Weardale/England. Size of the specimen 10 x 10 cm, crystals up to 2,5 cm.

[Jordi Fabre]

Excellent photos, as well as the ones from your friend's website!

BTW, if he still have some extra photos and he wish to publish it here, it would be more than welcome...

Jordi

[Tobi]

This one is a fluorite floater (no matrix at all!) from the Erongo mountains in Namibia. Width: 25 cm!!!

[Tobi]

Thanks Jordi, but i have just a few more. But everybody is invited to follow the links to www(dot)dioptaskristall(dot)de above - there are enough pictures for hours of watching ... But prepare for a killer specimen:

This finally was one of the best mineral specimens i've ever seen: A fluorite from Dal'Negorsk with an overall width of more than 20 cm - so the water clear fluorite cube atop (much, much better than on this poor photo!) has a size of nearly 10 x 10 x 10 centimeters!!! My picture is really poor - when you see this masterpiece, it takes your breath!

I stood in front of this display and thought that this could not be real. But it was :-)

[Jim]

Just beautiful!

Cheers,

[Les Presmyk]

Jim - You do realize that was not a huge, cubic diamond from Arkansas?

[Tobi]

:-)

This is a fluorite from Berbes/Spain, size is about 28 x 35 cm, longest crystal edge 6 cm.

[Tobi]

In a few weeks parts of my collection will be on display in the Marburg museum, here are some test shots. I think that the combination of minerals and older mineral paintings looks quite good. When the specimens are on display in the museum i will take some more photos and post them here.

I'm sorry that the labels are missing and that the lighting is not very good - but this are just some test shots taken at home to make some plans for the arrangement in the museum ...

This are some specimens from the garnet collection combined with an old painting by 19th/20th century German painter Eduard von Gruetzner, called "Der Mineraliensammler" (The mineral collector)

[Tobi]

These are some quartz specimens together with another painting from the 19th century, "Die Krystallsucher über dem Abgrund" (Crystal seekers at the abyss) by German painter Adolf Mosengel.

[Tobi]

And here some fluorites in combination with an illustration from late 15th century: "Der Edelsteinsucher" (The gem seeker) from the medieval book Hortus Sanitatis (Garden of Health).

[Tracy]

The first painting reallly brings out the color of the garnets, and overall the combination of artwork and minerals works nicely. Thanks for sharing - we look forward to seeing photos of your museum exhibit (congratulations, too).

- Tracy

[garchin]

Wow u r becoming a legend Tobias. Grats!
Is that book, Hortus Sanitatis, also on display?

Viel Glueck, Tschuess Gar

[Tobi]

Vielen Dank :-)

But why a legend? This is only a small exhibition of 30 good, but not world class minerals among a museum collection of extraordinary quality. But of course i'm very proud to show my best specimens in public.

That's not a book, it is only one sheet from Hortus Sanitatis on a wooden frame. And yes, it propably will also be on display together with the painting and the drawing from the 19th century.

For everyone who's interested, the official site gives a little introduction into the museum's history in English language:
https://www.uni-marburg.de/fb19/minmus/geschichte/history
(link normalized by FMF)

[Jim]

Great photos -- with great history! And yes, Les, I know that one pic was not a huge Arkansas diamond :)


Ha ha...

Cheers,