November 4 It never ceases to amaze me just how much work has gone into a show like this in terms of organizing and preparation. There are bound to be "issues" that arise yet it all appears seamless and everyone has everything they need.  It must require an army of people to pull it off.  Throw in the size of this show and it is staggering.  There is no possible way to see this entire show (the three halls) with the kind of time it would require to view everything critically.  It can not be done in the time that is allotted since a lot of time is spent visiting with people which is a principal attraction of any mineral show for me. Tucson is bigger but much of the time is spent in a car getting from venue to venue.  Munich is easily the largest mineral and gem show on Earth as far as being in one place. If you ever get the chance to come to Munich in your lifetime do it. The last day of the show for me was spent with one last look for bargains and also viewing the displays at the show.  This year the theme of the show was Gem Crystals from the Himalayas.  There were some remarkable specimens on display and a special display was presented by Herb & Monica Obodda. Before getting to the theme displays I thought a look at some of the other views in Hall A4 might be of interest. This display offered possible uses of large cathedral geodes of amethyst from Uruguay.   A view of the rock. lawn and rocks.    Several large amethyst geodes.   How in the world did they pull this off in one day of set up? A water fall, live plants and the display itself !! A sub-theme of the show this year minerals from the Italian Alps.  Not many people associate Italy with the Alps.  I have been there and the landscape is magical. A simulated Italian alpine view complete with flora, fauna, a hutte and mineral locality. A large pyromorphite specimen with quartz   A very large blue brucite specimen.  The piece is about 20 cm across.   A rarely seen specimen of cobaltoan adamite from Italy.   Outside the Italian displays were numerous other displays.  I always make it a point to visit the display of Bernhard Sick and Heinz-Dieter Goetter. They specialize in the historical aspects of mineral collecting,   A group of native elements from Cornwall with the original 19th century labels.   An interesting barite specimen from Cornwall. My overexposed photo bleached out the label... On to Hall A-6 with the theme displays.     The entry way to the displays. I apologize for the poor focus of this picture, An absolutely stunning specimen of elbaite about 25 cm from top to bottom entitled "the Rose of Asia".   This set of shelves had fine pegmatite minerals from Afghanistan and Pakistan.   A 10 cm crystal of manganotantalite from Afghanistan.   A fine aquamarine on muscovite from Pakistan.   A 15 cm crystal of gem fluorite from Nagar, Pakistan.   The show icon which was pictured the fliers and brochures.   An exceptional 12 cm crystalline mass of quartz and spessartine.   A stunning gem aquamarine on microcline with schorl.   Another gem aqua with schorl.   Two gems from Pakistan.   The exceptional specimens on display from the Herb & Monica Obodda collection.   This will wrap it up for the 2007 Munich Show. As in years past I am beholden to the show organizers - the Keilmann family -  and in particular Johannes Keilmann for the continued support of these annual show reports from Munich.  The rocks are what everyone comes to see but without the tireless work to organize and produce a top quality venue a show of this enormous size could easily disintegrate into a large flea market atmosphere.  Their attention to details and energy make this the best mineral show on Earth in my opinion - even with a murderous exchange rate. I would also like to thank Mineralogical Record pioneer John White for the two cigar breaks that I enjoyed immensely. It was a nice time to take a break and review the show and discuss other mineralogically related topics.  I owe you a good smoke in Tucson John! Unless the dollar has sunk to a 2:1 exchange rate I will be back here again next year.  I will be getting home in a day or so and will start to photo and post the specimens I picked up here in Munich. Stay tuned for an email announcement when they are ready.  If you are not on the mailing list you can join it using the form at the bottom of the page. Auf Wiedersehen und ich sieht wieder hier in München folgendes Jahr! John Veevaert Trinity Mineral Company