Munich Show report

The white halo over the International Mineral Pavilion

Mineral shows take quite a bit of preparation, and set up - we have the largest booth in the Pavilion, and it took us two full days to set up.


Organised chaos.


Liz and Dave Hacker work their magic arranging the English cabinet.

The finished product......





We were in a full day before most dealers - here is a picture of the empty hall outside our Pavilion ready for set up.



and a view during the show...



This show we were showcasing the European suites from the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, with several cabinets of German specimens, as well as Swiss, English and other European localities. We also had specimens from the newly acquired Gerald Clark and Charles Hansen Collections.


German Cabinet


German Cabinet


A very large yellow to grey blue Fluorite from Halsbrucke, Freiberg, Saxony



Anatase on matrix from Norway, and Titanite with Chlorite and Gypsum from Tujetsch, Grischun, Switzerland - ex. Philadelphia Collection



Develline ('Herrengrundite') from Spania Dolina, Slovakia.


Malachite coating Cuprites from Emke Mine, Onganja, Seeis, Nambia


A beautiful Orthoclase crystal, the gemmiest I have seen!


A selection of Rhodochrosites from Sweet Home Mine, Colorado, USA


A lovely Brazilianite from Linopolis, Minas Gerais, Brazil


A huge Amethyst from Guerrero, Mexico, from the Gerald Clark Collection. This is the best specimen from this location we have had for many years.


Johannes Keilmann - organiser of the Munich show - sets up the largest Aquamarine in the world. This was situated just opposite our booth, and certainly caught people's attention.


Jolyon and Ida of Mindat, next to the Aqua, Ida is not happy to be on the wrong side of the camera!!! : )

There didn't seem to be any major new finds at this show, there were several new finds of minerals, but nothing that really created a huge stir like the Pink Fluorites of last Munich. Many did remark that there was a lot of good quality, reasonably priced items around, and some great bargains if you had time and patience to hunt through the stands. There also seemed to be more Skutterudite and Erythrite from Morocco than in previous years.

One new find was beautiful 'Amber' Calcite from Dalen/Kjorholt in Southern Norway, an unusual locality for Calcite. This is a limestone mine, and two pockets were found of the Calcite crystals, with up to 10 generations of Calcite. The Amber Calcite ranged in colour from a rich amber colour, through honey coloured to a darker brown. It looks beautiful backlit as it is translucent, and has a good lustre that becomes frosty in places. The crystal forms were dominantly Scalenohedral, often with later generations of small scalenohedrons overgrown it, and stalactites and stalagmites of Calcite were also found. We snapped up most of the suite, here a few of the nicest pieces:







If you are interested to know more about the Calcites, please contact us

There was also a new find of Siderite on Faden Quartz from Iourirne Mine, Tata, Morocco. This is a Gold mine and has also for the first time produced pink Apatites which have never been found before in Morocco. The mine has an interesting parallel to the Morro Velho Gold mine in Brazil, which has a similar mineralogy, obviously Gold, but also including the Siderite, Quartz and pink Apatites.


Siderite on Faden Quartz

Luiz Menezes had new Apatites on Albite from Sapo Mine, Minas Gerais, Brazil that were first seen at the Denver show. This show Luiz displayed many larger specimens, as pictured below, that he has had time to clean since Denver. Two years ago green Hydroxylapatites were found at this location. In June of this year these Fluorapatites were found in a pocket 3m x 1m x 1.5m high. Two tonnes of Albite and Micas, including big chunks of Albite with Apatites have been removed, but this equates to less than 100kgs of good material. The Apatites found in the pocket showed two morphologies, one dark green in well formed tabular hexagonal crystals, and the other lighter green in a more elongate and often hollow formation.




Dark green Apatites from Sapo Mine, Brazil.

It was good to see some familiar faces around the show:


Jordi Fabre and John White snapped in Jordi's stand.

Jordi always has a range of new and interesting minerals. This show he has some new Tourmalines from China, and Goethites from Spain.


New Elbaite on Quartz from Urumqi, Xinjiang, China, found in 2006.


New very pretty iridescent Goethite from Filon Sur Mine, Tharsis, Huelva, Spain.



Ian with the Gobin brothers, Christophe and Brice at their stand in the International Mineral Pavilion.


Jeff Scovil busy photographing minerals on his 'mini' photo set up.


A beautiful display by German dealers Margraf 'Kristall'


A colleague of Gunnar Färber (Färber Minerals) shows us a 7.3kg Native Silver specimen from Veta Hundmiento, Porco, Potosi, Bolivia. The origin of the specimen is in debate, and it is thought to be possibly a pseudomorph after Stephanite.


Not sure if this one should pass a health and safety inspection?


This specimen caught my eye in G&F Barras-Gautier's booth opposite ours. A Calcite with included Pyrite from Hunan Province in China.


Green Mimetite var Campylite from Dononi, Iglesias, Sardinia in the display of Wolfgang Henkel. This specimen is very unusual for its green colour, and there was only one pocket found at this location, yielding about 20 specimens.


This amazing specimen was in the booth of Frederic Escaut. It is an Amethyst Geode with Calcite crystals, measuring about 1 metre is length. There is a central 'pole' that extends from one side to the other, with a large Calcite crystal overgrown it at each end. It was found in Urugauy on the border to Brazil recently (we believe this summer). The specimen was found with the 'pole' growing horizontally, and they are uncertain what the center of the 'pole' consists of. Fascinating!


Closer up, showing the central pole coated in Amethyst crystals, overgrown by Calcite.


Ian and Dave Waisman - organiser of the Westward Look and Dallas mineral shows - catch up over a glass of fine Single Malt.


Siegbert Zecha on his stand, which always has lots of interesting minerals and mining memorabilia.


Marco Tironi gets down to the important business of pouring us Prosecco, next to a stunning Tourmaline specimen from Pederneria Mine, Minas Gerais, Brazil from his personal collection.


Ian and Marco


A stunning specimen with huge Olivenite needles, with Malachite, from Mine de Inubia, Novo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. This specimen is now in the Collection of Francois Farges of the Museum National d'Historie Naturelle, sold by Alain Martaud.


Another super specimen purchased by Francois Farges - Brazilianite on a twinned Orthoclase crystal, also from Brazil. Very nice.


An Apatite Stalactite, with a central hole, from Lavio do Sapo, Conseilheiro, Brazil, sold by Alain to the School of Mines of Paris.

There were several superb exhibits this year. One exhibit was fossil fish from Monte Bolca, exhibited by the Museum of Verona. This is the first time these fossils have been out on exhibit, and are used as a demonstration of sea creatures discovered in mountains, kilometres above current sea level.


Displays of fossil fish


Fossil fish.

The most breath taking exhibit was 'Precious stones of the Himalayas' which featured magnificent Pegmatite minerals from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nepal. This was combined with an exhibit by Herb Oboda, USA mineral dealer who specialises in minerals from Afghanistan and Pakistan, who is celebrating his 50th year in the business.


Central entrance to the Himalayan exhibit.


The star of the exhibit was the amazing 'Rose of Asia', an undamaged Tourmaline weighing over 40kg. It was beautifully lit to show the deep pink centre.



There were then several displays of Pegmatite minerals from Aghanistan and Pakistan. The three central stands had around 15 specimens that had featured on the covers of magazines, and even the impressiveness of the 'Rose of Asia' could not destract from the absolute eye candy in those displays. If the following photos are not enough to make you drool, you probably shouldn't be reading this show report!!


Some beautiful specimens and cut gem stones of Fluorite.


An amazing Garnet specimen, with the lustrous Garnet growing around a prismatic Quartz crystal. The Garnet was over 6cm across.


A huge Brookite crystal from Kharan Mountains, Pakistan


Super pink octahedral Fluorite with a cut stone.


Several superb Bastnasite specimens, plus a large cut stone.


Stunning specimens - from L to R - Topaz with Schorl and Clevelandite from Dassu, Pakistan; Aquamarine from Shigar, Pakistan; Topaz from Pakistan.


Another super specimen, with a cut Aquamarine stone from Pakistan


Aquamarine on Feldspar with Schorl from Nyet-Bruk, Braldu Valley, Skardu, Pakistan


More eye candy from Pakistan and Afghanistan - the right most specimen is a green Herderite crystal.


A Manganotantalite specimen from Nuristan, Afghanistan


A large Kunzite crystal from Nuristan, Afghanistan


An Aqua with an intersecting Schorl crystal


The Aquamarine shown on this year's Show poster, from Nagar, Gilgit, Pakistan


Johannes Keilmann - the organiser of Mineralientage Munchen - next to the Show poster and the Aquamarine.


A selection of Pakistan minerals from the collection of Helmut Rottner

Herb had several displays of specimens from his collection of minerals:


Breath taking Kunzite specimen with Elbaite from Mawi, Nuristan, Afghanistan. This specimen was about 40cm tall (if not more!)


Specimens from Herb Oboda's Collection


More specimens from Herb's Collection






Herb (on the right) with Johannes Keilmann on site

There were several other exhibits with minerals and items from the Himalayas including this amazing Lapis bowl:


A Lapis Lazuli bowl, from Sar-e-Sang, Afghanistan, made in Florence in the 16th Century. This bowl was from the cabinet of King Louis XIV of France, and is now part of the collection of the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris.



Titanite (Sphene) crystals on Actinolite from Alchuri, NA, Pakistan in the Pegmatite minerals display from the collections of Bill and Carol Smith, and Dudley Blauwet, both of Colorado USA.


Apatite crystal form a snake on Quartz from Pakistan


A very interesting and large Aquamarine crystal with subparallel crystals, topped with Muscovite from Bange Danda, G.B.S. Garkhakot, Nepal.


The world's largest Viitaniemiite specimen, measuring 17cm length, from Paprok, Nuristan, Afghanistan


Attractive pastel green Quartz crystals (including a Gwindel) with phantoms of included Chlorite from Chalt, NA, Pakistan.

Over in the other hall, there was another exhibit of Alpine minerals and fossils. There was also a section celebrating 150 years of nature scientist Georg Gasser. Georg Gasser (1857-1931) was a private business man who collected items of natural History, including an extensive mineral collection, and he is regarded as the founder of the Museum of Nature, South Tyrol, Italy.


Mineral fakes from Gasser Collection. Fakes in his collection included Pyrites from Lappage, Magnetites from Frossnitz and glued crystals of Epidote from Knappenwand.


Polished slices and Cabochons from the Gasser Collection.


Only in a German show could you expect to find a meat stall in the middle of an Alpine mineral exhibit!