Munich Mineral Show 2010 - Show Report 3

1 November 2010

Here we are with the third and final report from Mineralientage Munchen 2010. The final couple of days of the Munich Show were pretty busy!

No wonder there were so many people as the Brazilian Beauties exhibit was simply fantastic. Many stunning and sizeable classic gem minerals:

Brazilian Beauties Exhibit

A crazy, and large (c. 18cm) Tourmaline cluster on Quartz from Pederneira Mine, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Aquamarine floater from Pedra Azul, Minas Gerais, Brazil c. 25cm

Strangely shaped Kunzite floaters Urucum Mine, Minas Gerais, Brazil

A huge and deeply coloured Kunzite (c. 30cm)

Brazilian Diamonds

A beautiful set of cat's eye Brazilian Tourmaline cabochons courtesy of Paul Wild Lapidary

Faberge style egg made with Brazilian gem materials c. 20cm tall

  A stout Rubellite Tourmaline c. 25cm tall

A stunning forest green coloured Tourmaline cluster (c. 25cm wide) from Minas Gerais

Another magnificent Tourmaline with Lepidolite, Albite and Smoky Quartz c. 25cm

A great "V-shaped" Verdellite Tourmaline c. 25cm tall

A simply daft citrine/smoky Quartz crystal (c. 50cm) accompanied by a deep green coloured Tourmaline, again from Minas Gerais


An electric-blue capped Tourmaline from Sapo Mine, Minas Gerais c. 15cm

Although not strictly mineralogical, but keeping with the Brazilian theme, the other large hall played host to a great installation of fossil fish positioned in ponds (alongside live fish!) from Santana, Brazil. The ponds were covered in glass so that you could walk over them. Amongst the associated display was a fossil of a fish eating another fish!

  Fossil fish installation

Hungry Fossil fish from Santana, Brazil

Also in this hall were the "Sammlervitrinen" (collector cabinets) where a few international collectors are invited to present some of their collection/finds at the show. One cabinet that took my eye was a presentation of beautiful blue/purple Fluorite from Strzegom Granite Quarries, Lower Silesia, Poland.

Richly coloured modified Fluorite crystals from Strzegom, Poland

A section of a miarolitic cavity in granite from Strzegom where the Fluorites are found

Also in the other hall is The Alpine Minerals section of the Munich show this year had an emphasis on the Mont Blanc area, as well as another display of minerals from Piedmonte and Lombardy, Northern Italy including a gorgeous selection of Amethyst that were discovered in Traversella, Val D'Aosta in 1959.

A large specimen (c. 20cm) of pink Fluorite octahedra on Smoky Quartz from Mont Blanc, Haute Savoie,  France

Mont Blanc Catalogue of rocks and minerals from the Moutiers School of Mines dated 1816 (before it moved and became the Paris School of Mines) with documented specimens from Mont Blanc and elsewhere in the Savoie.

Beautiful dark Amethyst crystals from Traversella, Northern Italy

...and after days of searching David Lloyd finally found his mineral specimen

Thanks for viewing the show report. Next up for us is the Haywards Heath Show in the UK on 13th November

Author: Ed
Categories: News & Information