The season changed from a gorgeous fall to winter in the last 48 hours.  A substantial drop in the temperature mixed with some rain and snow are not so subtle reminders that the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer are six plus months away... The past 48 hours have also been spent scouring the two primary minerals halls - B2 and B3.  There are a lot of very good and interesting minerals here this year.  As has been the trend lately there is a heightened buzz about the Munich Show which really is unparalleled by any other show in the world.  The intensity of concentrating the best and largest number of dealers all in one place for a short period of time, and many with arrays of superb minerals makes for an intoxicating experience if you're a mineral collector and a frantic experience if you are a mineral dealer looking to load up for the coming months.  It far exceeds Tucson in my opinion due to the concentration effect. 

This year as last there is a special area for some of the preeminent dealers in the world situated in the International Pavilion.  The theme of the show this year is Mineral Masterpieces (more about that later) and the International Pavilion is loaded with specimens that are simply exceptional.  On Wednesday there was a constant buzz circling around the case of Ricardo Prato of Italy who had on display what easily the best minerals that were for sale here in Munich - a stunning group of rich pink colored fluorite specimens from Nagar, Pakistan.  The glass nature of some of the specimens was extraordinary.  All of these large cabinet specimens were evidently sold as soon as they went out on display but they were and still are the talk of the show. The pictures below say enough...

There are two days provided for set up here.  It is understandable since there are hundreds of dealers who are trying to get their material in these large building but there is limited space to get automobiles in so there is a lengthy queue set up and constant traffic jam in and outside the halls.  It is astounding that accidents are kept to a minimum and none result in anything greater than a little embarrassment or tiny scratch on a car door or fender. 

There is something of a stratification between the principal mineral halls - B2 and B3 with the more prominent dealers in B2 and regional dealers set up in B3.  By regional I mean Chinese, Moroccan and easter European.  This is not universally the case but generally so. Most of my time was spent in B2 since this is where you could find most of the new and interesting minerals brought to the show.

In  B2 in the International Pavilion I found brothers Brice and Christophe Gobin already set up and they had a fine array of interesting new minerals and some unique novelties.  They and few others such as Karl & Lucille Spricht of South Africa had the only specimens of Orange River fluorite from the border area of Namibia and South Africa.  Christophe says the new specimens with the rich illuminated lime green color come from just inside South Africa.  I selected three specimens for a future update and photographed one other on display.

Elsewhere in B2 I caught up with Ernesto Ossala and  found this small group of specimens of nail head or scepter like prismatic vanadinite. All of the specimens are Thumbnail in size to small miniature.  The crystals are elongated with these peculiar terminations.

Lot more to come from Munich, Germany!

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