Ernesto Ossala had a small group of fluorite specimens pseudomorphing calcite from Jebel Ayachi, Morocco.  Most were a very pale white to cream color however a few were violet.  I picked out what I thought were the best of the group and moved on.  The specimens have a unique zoning which I have not seen before revealing their calcitic past.

While moving about the show I saw several dealers with specimens from Mt. Malosa in Malawi.  This area is well known of course, but seems to be appreciated more by Italian collectors.  I decided to gather up a group of specimens to offer from this interesting African locality by obtaining specimens of zircon and arfvedsonite primarily.

In the lobby area I saw German rare species dealer Gunnar Farber.  Gunnar had a very large array of rare minerals available including specimens of skorpionite (IMA 2005-10) from the Skorpion mine in Rosh Pinah, Namibia. And on the last day he produced some exceptional specimens of the very rare mineral species vihorlatite (IMA 1988-47) which is an insanely rare bismuth selenium telluride.  He told me that Stanislav Horsky, the Czech collector who found the mineral, worked laboriously for nearly two months in the locality this past year and recovered only 20 or so specimens.  These are considered the best of the species known.  Gunnar showed me a letter dated July 5, 2000 indicating official IMA approval of this species. Click here to see a photographed copy of the IMA approval letter. 

At the main public entrance of the show were a series of displays.  This year there were about a dozen cases with Alpine minerals on display - primarily smoky quartz and fluorite from the French, Italian and Swiss Alps. There were case after case of superb pieces on display.  I apologize to the displayers ahead for not recording who's case was whose but you will get a sense of the quality of specimens that were on display here.

First are a couple of photos which will convey the conditions that the field collectors usually work under or ... in.

I was quite impressed with my first visit to this show. The show was very well attended all four days - especially Saturday which saw the floor area jammed with people.  There were several new things that I saw here and, as with the recent Tucson Show, not a lot in the way of new finds but a tremendous number of excellent minerals with non-Tucson like prices.  It was somewhat interesting to note that there were virtually no other American visitors to this show and only one Japanese dealer Echiro and his wife.  So to see so many people here conveys to me that the European (Italian) market is very much alive and very healthy. 

My one regret is not having enough time to visit the city of Bologna properly before moving on so the solution to this is to arrive earlier next year to have time enough to visit this venerable city while adjusting to the time change.

I would like to thank Dr. Alessandro Genezzani again for making this trip as smooth as it was for Colleen and I and also to Renato Pagano, the gang from Webminerals.com and Emanuele Marini for their suggestions and assistance at the show.

I would encourage everyone to make it to this show at least once.  It is one I intend to visit again and again in the future.

Colleen and I will be travelling around Italy until the 26th and then will head for Turkey to see the total solar eclipse on March 29th in Cappadocia.  After a week more in Turkey we will fly back to San Francisco and then be home on April 7th.   I will be posting minerals from this show in mid April.  Until then,

Arrivederci!  Ciao,

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