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November 2

The last day here at the show.  Goodness 5 days can go by quickly.  I usually use this last to talk with people and view the displays.  This year the show theme was Australia.  The central display area was set up in Hall A4 as usual.  There were some very fine specimens of gold, crocoite and a lot of opals.  Other things such as agates and fossils were on display as well as some modest collections of minerals from Broken Hill.

 

An example of the Australian flag marking the location of the displays. 

 

Entrance to the Australian displays. 

 

Enter into the Australian display and the stunning Gold displays as you enter.

I have actually held this specimen of cubic gold now owned by the Leicht's of Kristalle. 

A killer 8 cm wire gold specimen from Kalgoorlie. 

Check out some of the gold specimens on display!

A couple of stunning black opals. 

More "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" examples of opals from Australia.

Another array of multi color eye candy. 

Two long pencil crocoite specimens from Tasmania. 

  Two videos of the crocoite displays at the show...

In Hall A6 there were some incredible displays of collectors and the eye popping gold from the Alps and quartz displays.  The first three are from the Norwegian Museum of Oslo.

Check out this enormous smoky quartz specimen of incredible clarity and character!  It was found just a month ago!!

A photo of the crew that found this specimen during its recovery.

Now how about some very large gold specimens from a find in Switzerland!

This specimen is 35 cm across.

Two videos of a new gold find from Italy.  Note several antique tools found encrusted with limonite as well as the gold.

 

A 25 cm specimen

It was crowded like this every time I dropped in to try and see the Swiss gold specimens.

Aside from the minerals here in Munich a few trips to the Bier Garten is a must.  The German people have perfected the art of beer making.  The wheat beers, lagers and pilsners are the best.  There is no such thing as a bad beer in Germany.  It is probably against the law to serve one.

The area near the Bier Garten was always crowded

Here's a line up for you: Joan Kureczka (wife of Jesse Fisher), Cal Graeber, me, and Penny Williamson who is curator
of the museum at the University of Wollongong in Australia. All enjoying that last taste of Germany before heading home.
Thanks to Jesse Fisher for taking the photo.

Well that will do it for the 2008 Munich Show.  Scarce new things to report on here this year but that is the way it goes sometimes.  The Chinese material - usually a source for new material - was all old stuff with nothing at all new to report on.  Despite that there were a lot of very good specimens available from recycled collections but prices for the best pieces were out of my range (by a lot) and that of 99.9% of the people at the show.  It seems like the five figure specimens are being sold to a fairly small group of people around the world.  Most dealers were having a slow show but some had phenomenal shows such as Jordi Fabre who was selling the Silvane collection - lots of diversity and reasonable pricing.  Then there was Indian dealers Dr. Hemet and Pria Merchant of Mineral Decor. They had someone come to their booth and buy their entire inventory on the spot.  This was less than 36 hours after Pria said to me that she expected this to be a poor show for them.  You should have seen her infectious smile when she told me what happened.

There was some movement of expensive minerals in the IP but over all business was down compared to the year before.  The presence of "Half Off" cases suggests that some level of price moderation is starting to occur.  It does look odd to see 2000 euro minerals priced at 1/2 off.  There were fewer folks from the USA here this time and I suspect that is in large part due to the sinking economy.  I suspect some dealers will hold on to their prices till the end of time but I get a sense that others are realizing that we are no longer in an expanding economic situation.

Again, my thanks to Johannes Keilmann for the gratuitous show pass to allow me access to early days of the show.  It is very much appreciated!

I plan to be back here again in 2009.  I would encourage everyone to visit this show at least one time as it is the single largest mineral event in the world and very well organized.

Mineralogical cheers!

John Veevaert

Past Shows & Reports
PLEASE NOTE: The minerals that were offered on these pages are all sold
1999
Munich Show
2000
Sainte Marie Show
Munich Show
2001
Sainte Marie Show
Munich Show
2002
Tucson Show
Sainte Marie Show
Denver Show
Munich Show
2003
Tucson Show
Sainte Marie Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show
Munich Show
2004
Tucson Show
West Coast Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show
Munich Show
2005
Tucson Show
West Coast Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show
Munich Show
2006
Tucson Show
Bologna Show
Sainte Marie Show
East Coast Show
Munich Show
2007
Tucson Show
Dallas Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show
Munich Show
2008
Tucson Show
West Coast Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show
Munich Show
2009
Tucson Show
West Coast Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show
Munich Show

2010
Tucson Show
San Francisco Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show

Munich Show

2011
Tucson Show
San Francisco Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show
Munich Show

2012
Tucson Show
West Coast Show
East Coast Show
Denver Show 
Munich Show

2013
Tucson Show
Sainte Marie Show
Crystal Days (Poland)
Munich Show  

 

 
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