Born in 1967, in Germanys main cole mining area, I first got in touch with carbon fossils which I found on huge cole dumps in the near, brought them to my elementary school teacher for identification.
Aged eleven we moved further south to the Darmstadt area where I still live today.
My parents and me spent the holidays in the swiss mountains, and when just hiking came too boring I went beside the paths and found my first minerals. Being assisted and tought by local "Strahler" I soon learned how to find minerals and how to get them out of the pocket without damage.
So my favourite collecting area is the Wallis in Switzerland. In 30 years of collecting there I must have spend about 2 years in this area in total. I love to be in these mountains and to collect in different hights between 700m and 3500m above sea level.
The second area I am interested in is located in north eastern Greece, the island of Thassos and the "Cassandra" mines in Chalkidiki. I visited them a couple of times and went underground as well.
Adding localities, locality information and photographs I will try to show you my favourite areas and their collecting sites. And, of course, I will share my collection with you as well.
Hope you will like it as much as I do!
Take care, yours Christian