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October 26-29

The weather here in Munich has been remarkable! Bright sunny skies with cool temperatures and the peaking colors of fall. Really quite beautiful here in this marvelous city! I arrived on Monday and took a day to try and get readjusted to the 9 hour time difference between California and Germany.  Jet lag is what it is...


St. Paul's church near where I am staying about 1 AM - Jet Lag... Yeah baby!


Theresenweise Park a couple weeks after Oktoberfest.  The large tents are being dismantled in this shot.
An unfathomable number of headaches and hangovers were born in these halls I imagine... 

Arriving early is the only way I can defeat jet lag so I try to plan some excursions to see some of the many different things that there are to see here in Munich. On Tuesday Reno, Nevada dealer Scott Werschky and I made plans to visit one of the more sobering memorials of World War II here in the Munich area - the Dachau Memorial. The infamous Concentration Camp opened in 1933 by the Nazi Regime. If you are ever here in Munich this is a memorial worth visiting.  It is not easy to systematically view all of the displays but the German people have done a tremendous job of accurately detailing the history of events that led to the rise of the Nazi party and its horrid impacts on the Jewish, Roma, Santi and countless other people of differing ethnicities who met their end within the walls of Dachau. The camp was liberated when the United States 7th Army overtook Nazi forces in April 1945.

 


A plaque at the entrance to the camp.


A view of Scott entering the grounds of the Dachau Camp memorial.


A view of the restored barracks in one of dozens of buildings which housed the incarcerated. 


A stirring sculpture on the grounds of the memorial. 

There is much more to see at Dachau but rather than post more photos I think it is something that is better left to the individual to experience.  There are lessons here for everyone and I think most cultures can find parallels in their own history in terms of atrocities inflicted on fellow human beings.

Alright, the reason I am here is for minerals.  So lets get going.  Before I launch in on the minerals please excuse some of the images as I am left to shooting photos of minerals either under direct sunlight or with the "funky" lights available in my hotel room.  I think you will get  the point ok though.

As is customary with every Munich Show I have ever been to Spanish dealer Jordi Fabre was the first one set up.  Jordi has his usual array of fine specimens offered from locations around the world.  All are neatly labeled and reasonably priced.  One item that I immediately saw as something new were these specimens of indigo blue apatite associated with sprays of bertrandite set on matrix of albite variety Cleavlandite. These are from the Golconda Mine, Govenador Valadares, Minas Gerais, Brazil.  The crystals are small but have deep blue color.  The betrandite is found as micro sprays.

 
A 4.5 cm specimen of albite hosting blue apatite and bertrandite.
 

 
Here's a picture of Jordi. He is not stoned!  He was merely in the act of blinking...

 

 
The organized chaos of set up day...

Peruvian dealer Teodocio Ramos Cabrera  and Spanish dealer Luis Miguel Burillo were both offering specimens of a new find of alabandite associated with or without bright pink rhodochrosite from the Uchucchacua Mine, Oyon, Lima, Peru.  These are some exceptional specimens of this simple sulfide of manganese.  It's chemical formula is Mn+2S. The best specimens I saw were with Luis so my hunch is that he likely picked up the best specimens from Ramos long before the show or was on site when the best pieces were surfacing. I also heard that Khyber minerals had specimens from this find available a while back so there are likely several pathways these minerals have taken to get to the mineral market. Last February Jaroslav Hysrl had a specimen of this find that he sold to Bill Pinch during the Tucson Show. At that time it was one of the best specimens of this mineral I had ever seen. This limited group consisting of about 60 specimens here in Munich have representatives that are of the same quality. An interesting note about these specimens is that there are number of specimens which have spinel law twins displayed as well as single octahedral shaped crystals. Several have associations with Rhodochrosite. It has been reported that a new manganese silver sulfosalt has been found on some specimens from this find too.  Other interesting information on this find can be found on Jordi Fabre's Mineral Forum here  (you will have to scroll down a ways to find the picture of Ramos to get to the entry).

Teodcocio and Luis also both had some very fine specimens multicolored fluorite from Huanzala mine, Bolognesi, Ancash Peru. These specimens have complex crystal forms of cubes modified by octahedral and dodecahedral faces. The crystals have pink cores with violet colored outer zones. I tried for the life of me to get a good photo of these here in hotel room and it was a disaster.  So, you will be able to see these when I return home to Weaverville. Lastly, Luis Miguel has his usual array of fine specimens from Panasqueira, Portugal.


A 6.5 cm specimen of lustrous alabandite crystals hosting rose colored rhoodochrosite.


A 2.5 cm specimen with interconnected spinel law twins of alabandite.


A 4 cm specimen of lustrous, color zoned apatite crystals from Panasqueira, Portugal.

French Dealer Pierre Clavel has the nicest group of chevkinite-Ce specimens that I have seen since they first came out about 10 years ago.  This locality, Satil, Tangir valley, Diamar, Pakistan, is now completely defunct according to Pierre and it is also situated in a rather politically unstable area.  Pierre also had specimens from a new find of Axinite from Oued Beth near El Hammam, Morocco.  The axinite is heavily included but Pierre feels the potential exists for better specimens in the future.  He also says that the locality has produced some modest specimens of tin bearing minerals such as stokesite, wickmanite, and malayaite.


A 6 cm specimen of interconnected chevkinite-Ce crystals.


A 8.5 cm specimen - one of the typical axinite specimens available from Pierre.

I had received an email from Hemant Merchant (Mineral Decor of India) that he had obtained the finest group of the only known specimens of calcite crystals included with pentagonite. Cavansite inclusions have been found in several occurrences in Wagholi but this is the first time that sprays of pentagonite crystals have ever been found completely encased in crystals of calcite.   According to Hemant, he obtained the entire find less the pieces with damage and I was quite happy to get these unique specimens.  No matter what show I attend I always look forward to visiting with Priya and Hemant Merchant. They are very friendly people and pleasure to talk with.  If you want to find the best that India has to offer I encourage you to visit with them first.


A 5 cm specimen with 1.5 cm calcite crystal included with lath shaped crystals of pentagonite.

One item a lot of people are talking about are the new crocoite specimens from the Adelaide mine in Tasmania, Australia. These are very long and delicate crystals with secondary phases of crocoite growing on them.  The Gobins had the best specimens I saw of these expensive but stunning specimens.


A 7.5 cm specimen with vertical crystals of crocoite.


A 8 cm intergrown group of crocoite crystals with the secondary growth.

 

 
Brice & Christophe Gobin in their way too comfortable booth.

I  caught wind of a new find of Ilvaite from China and will try to track down more information about that find in the next report.

Ok, this is just the first whack at what is here in Munich.  There will a lot more to talk about over the next few days.

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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