This article summarises my visit to Stockholm to participate in the Swedish Mineralogical Society Flink Day topographical mineralogy symposium at the Naturhistoriska rijksmuseet in Stockholm as an invited speaker - https://www.sweminsoc.se/


Arrival at the Central Station – Xmas is coming!

It was very dark and wet when I arrived in Stockholm, but the temperature dropped markedly overnight and I was greeted by a fresh fall of snow.

I spent Friday visiting Jörgen Langhof Curator of minerals at the Swedish Museum of Natural History (https://www.nrm.se/en/16.html ), meeting some of his colleagues and touring the laboratories and examining specimens in the extensive collection store.



Looks like it is this way…!



The Swedish Natural History Museum (Naturhistoriska rijksmuseet) – in the snow. I was told that they had not seen the sun for a month!



A giant boulder of iron outside the The Swedish Natural History Museum



And here is its story …



Finally I slithered my way around to the front entrance – very impressive!



During my tour of the laboratories I was able to see the amazing Ion Micro-Probe facility, and to learn something about how it is utilised and the many applications of this tool from Professor Martin Whitehouse, Head of the Nordsim laboratory https://www.nrm.se/en/forskningochsamlingar/geovetenskap/nordsim.904.html



Cameca IMS 1270 at the Nordsim laboratory 1016087

If you would like to learn more about how this amazing piece of kit works and what all the components do – see https://sims.ess.ucla.edu/nsf_facility/ims1270.php

I also spent some time in the public gallery (well worth a visit if you are in Stockholm). The displays here embrace the whole spectrum of mineralogy – physical properties, such as hardness, lustre, colour, double refraction and so on; the uses of minerals and an introduction to ore deposits; meteorites; gemstones; fluorescence; crystallography; systematic mineralogy and a selection of ‘wow specimens’ including a spectacular gold nugget, fine native silver and a superb diamond crystal in matrix. A large amethyst geode and giant smoky quartz crystal are sure to capture the imagination of younger visitors. The world famous Langban deposit gets pride of place with a special exhibit showcasing nearly a hundred specimens from the locality.

The entrance to the mineral gallery (Treasures from the Earth’s interior)



A dramatic ‘crystal cave’ welcomes the visitor



General view of the mineral gallery



General view of the mineral gallery – nice to see some crystal models being used as decoration





A very large crystal of smoky quartz



The fluorescent minerals display – come inside and take a look …



Banded calcite from Långban



Native lead, a Långban speciality



Native silver from Kongsberg, Norway



A great diamond in kimberlite from Kimberley, South Africa



A real rarity – a fossil meteorite (with a terrestrial age of 475 million years) enclosed in a slab of limestone from Brunflo in the region of Jamtland



And here is a close-up view of the fossil meteorite



Colour in minerals exhibit



Uses of minerals exhibit



Långban

Långban is a mining village within the district of Filipstad, located in the western region of Värmland. It is known for the remarkable richness of its mineral deposits and has long been a source of iron and manganese ores.

Some 270 different minerals have been found at Långban. Of these about seventy were previously unknown and are therefore classified as ‘type minerals’, which means that their original descriptions are based on the Långban deposit. The mineral richness of the area is due to the unusually high concentrations of metals such as lead, manganese, antimony and arsenic in rocks that are poor in silica.

Långban display case



A few Långban specialities…





The Department of Mineralogy at NHM Stockholm is very active in mineralogical research and characterisation of new minerals and this display describes some of the activities involved.



The gallery includes a novel systematic mineralogy display housed in a module of pull-out cases.



You can slide out the cases (GENTLY PLEASE!) to have a closer look at the nicely displayed, labelled and well-illuminated specimens.



Let's take a closer look at a few specimens from the exhibit

Fluorite, Kongsberg, Norway – nice!











Another trio of collectors’ favourites…



At 2pm I gave a presentation to the Museum staff about my Minerals of the English Midlands book project (see https://britishmineralogy.com/wordpress/?page_id=878 )

Later that afternoon it was time to take a look behind the scenes…

Neatly organised rows of cabinets in the mineral store


I’m going to focus on British localities – let’s start with a drawer of sphalerite



Sphalerite and quartz from the Isle of Man



A great suite of chalcocite from Cornwall



Bournonite from Herodsfoot Mine acquired from F.Pisani of Paris in 1871



And another one – this time with a Bryce Wright label



And here is a really unusual piece with an interesting history – traded with Patrick Dudgeon



Fluorite, Cumberland ‘from Dr Buckland’s Collection’ [presumably William Buckland (1784 – 1856) an English theologian who became Dean of Westminster. He was also a geologist and palaeontologist - see (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Buckland ) via Patrick Dudgeon in 1857

How about this great little macklockite from S.M. Myrtin of Stockholm, 13 September 1923?



and some tremendous British calcite specimens



and a ‘killer’ witherite from Nentsberry Mine, from the King’s collection!



I am going to save the best until the end!

In a special room, off the mineral gallery, are 12 superb antique cabinets housing the collection of Sten Anders Hjalmar Sjögren, Swedish geologist and mineralogist (1856-1922). You can read more about him here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sten_Anders_Hjalmar_Sj%C3%B6gren



The room is presented as if one is entering a private house, complete with curtains at the windows and crystal chandeliers overhead. The collection is housed in eight storage cabinets (24 drawers in each) each topped by a glazed display case and four tall vertical wall display cases and four table top display cases. There are some superb specimens here from localities all over the world.

Here are a few pictures to give you a taste of the treasures to be seen…





A superb bournonite with quartz from Herodsfoot Mine, in beautiful condition



Liroconite and other Cornish minerals



OK, I know you’d like to see it close-up!



And would you like to see a few more Cumbrian calcites?



Cumbrian calcites – a feast for the eyes!

Now the Museum is closing so unfortunately we have to go and get some dinner and then I must head back to the hotel.

The following morning the weather was bright and sunny, but cold and the snow of the previous day looked very picturesque, but it was quite slippery on the pavements! I spent a couple of hours exploring the Old Town before catching the subway up to the University to join the Flink Day Symposium at lunchtime.

Central Stockholm from the theatre terrace garden


The Stockholm waterfront



It is a cold morning for wiring up the Xmas tree!



The Xmas tree on the quayside



Queueing up for a boat trip



The famous Xmas Market in Stortorget square – Varm Glögg sounds pretty good - maybe I should try some!



OK, I’m getting pretty cold now so it is time to take the subway up to the University and join the others at the Swedish Museum of Natural History.

A lovely bright morning here today so another couple of photos are worth including



The Swedish Museum of Natural History viewed from the south side 1016093



The iced-up approach to the front entrance

The mineralogy gallery is on the upper floor of the right hand wing (see next photo)



The mineralogy gallery is on the upper floor of the wing on the right

I have a little spare time so I have to go back to the The Hjalmar Sjögrens Collection room and take a few more photos…







Another great display case in the Hjalmar Sjögrens Collection room



Now it is time to meet the delegates for the Flink Meeting.

Programme for the Flinkdag Meeting 29 November 2019



Here’s Jörgen presenting on new minerals from Sweden 2003 – 2019



Andreas Karlsson speaking about his project on monteneveite



We all enjoyed a good mineralogical chat over coffee and cake half-way through the afternoon and finally the Symposium came to an end and we headed into the Old Town for a pub meal (where I continued the activities with a presentation on the Minerals of the Cairngorms on my laptop! (see https://britishmineralogy.com/wordpress/ )

Stockholm is a city that celebrates its’ geology by exposing the blasted rock in the subway tunnels – how about that?



Photograph on station platform poster showcasing the underground geology. Full marks!

Sunday morning came all too quickly and it was time to make my way to Arlanda Airport for the flight to Schipol and onwards to Birmingham.

Unfortunately the flight from Stockholm was delayed to a late inbound aircraft and I missed my scheduled connection at Schipol – resulting in a five hour stopover – which is why you got to read this report – enjoy!

Goodbye to Sweden!



So, if you ever get the chance to visit Stockholm be sure to check out the Swedish Museum of Natural History, and the mineral collection. You will not be disappointed. You might also like to get in touch with the local collectors – I’m sure they will be delighted to meet up with you. See http://www.geonord.se/langban/LBS_web/about_eng_2.htm and http://www.geology.neab.net/

Finally, you can search the collections of the Swedish Museum of Natural History here https://naturarv.nrm.se/faces/pages/results.xhtml ... What are you waiting for?

A big thank you to Jörgen Langhof, Andreas Karlsson, Martin Whitehouse and Dan Holtstam for permission to reproduce the images in this report, and to everyone for making me so welcome!