The Munich Mineral Show 2008

Report by Jolyon Ralph.


For the fourth year in a row, I found myself in autumnal Munich at the largest single-venue mineral show in the world - the Munich Mineral Show (or Mineralientage München, in German). The place is vast. The photo below shows one of the three massive halls filled with over 1000 exhibitors - apparently next year they will spread into a fourth hall.



The exhibitors are divided up in different zones within the halls.

A6 - the first hall you enter, is mostly gems, beads and jewelry, except for the mineral exhibition (this year, Australia) in the far corner.

A5 - this is the main hall for mineral dealers. The "high-end" dealers are kept in their own little enclosure, called the 'International Mineral Pavillion', with more expensive drinks and far more expensive minerals.

A4 - with the spill-over of the mineral dealers who couldn't fit in to A5, and a huge "healy-feely forest" area where all sorts of crystal healing shennanigans were going on - I didn't get too close to this, but I could see various people using oiled rocks in ways that looked, quite frankly, ridiculous. And at the far side of the hall are all the chinese and african mineral dealers with their flat tables covered with minerals (also often oiled, but for different reasons).

In general, I was disappointed with the new finds - in that there weren't many! Nothing much spectacular that I hadn't already seen at Denver - and everyone I talked to said the same thing, uncertainty about the current financial climate is making dealers think hard about investing in new material right now - or if they are they're keeping it back for Tucson hoping the financial climate will be better. Also, it was sad to note that many of my regular European friends didn't make it to the show - again I'm told that people don't want to go to a big mineral show when they're not keen on spending money. Didn't stop me, I only bought one rock. But, it was nice to meet some of my old friends, and make some new ones too.

So, on with the rocks!

First up, some nice russian beauties (always a favourite of mine):



Anatoliy Konjuskiy had this very impressive Elbaite crystal from Mokhovaya, Malkhan, Transbaikal, Russia. There were plenty of good new russian tourmaline crystals around, but this was by far the best.

Further along, mineralogist.ru had some interesting Hydrotalcite crystal groups from Irkutsk.



...and several nice examples of 'dendritic' Villiaumite from the Karnasurt, Kola peninsula, Russia.




Moving along, and another new offering, Amethyst from Hungary. These pieces were offered by Stoneland, although several of us who saw them all agreed that they were probably a little overpriced - but if you're an amethyst fanatic then I'm sure you'll enjoy these:



Now, time to move out of the far hall and back towards the International Mineral Pavillion. And who do I find there, enjoying their afternoon tea? Some fellow Brits of course!



Crystal Classics had this rather nice little Bulgarian Sphalerite in their cabinet (from the Osikovo Mine, Deveti Septemvri Complex, Madan, Rhodope Mts, Plovdiv Oblast, Bulgaria).



... and a fabulous Round Mountain Mine, Nevada Gold on matrix



Here's a video of some very sweet home Rhodochrosite specimens that Crystal Classics/Kristalle were offering



Marcus Grossman had a very interesting selection of Calcite and other minerals from the Brazilian/Uruguayan Amethyst fields, here's a video of some spectacular pieces:



I only had a short time with Rob Lavinsky, but he had some nice Rhodonite crystals from Brazil, again here on video:




Just outside the Mineral Pavillion was Jordi Fabre's stand, and he was eager to show me a massive Pyrosmalite-(Fe) crystal from Nordmark, Sweden.



The Gobin Brothers (Christophe and Brice) have recently moved to Dubai, and one of the benefits of being in the region is that they have recently got some great new Wulfenites from Iran:





Rob Sielecki had this curiously hairy Bustamite from Broken Hill, NSW, Australia, which I had to take a video of:



The theme of the show was Australia, and a huge display of Australian minerals was put together in hall A6

And what mineral symbolises Australia better than any? Well, for me, it's Crocoite, from Dundas, Tasmania, and there was plenty on show!



It was nice to meet the guys from the National Museums of Scotland who brought a great selection of historic specimens over for the show, the centerpiece being this fabulous Gold from Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.



But funkiest and weirdest of all were these cute little fossil replacements in Cassiterite from Doctor's Gully, New South Wales.



And finally, a video from the Australia exhibit, showing a selection of Broken Hill minerals



Munich might have been a bit disappointing with new finds and some absent friends, but then the weather was beautiful, the company was wonderful and the food was magnificent, so it can't be all bad! Next stop, Tucson 2009! I can't wait....

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