Updated July 9, 2003

This is the entire series of  updates for the 2003 Sainte-Marie aux Mines Show.

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	July 7th This link will take you to all of the specimens in the database listed from $2500 and Up.  Some of these may be from previous shows.
	July 9th This link will take you to the specimens listed from $1000 to $2500.    Some of these may be from previous shows.
	July 9th This link will take you to specimens listed from $500 to $1000 .   Some of these may be from previous shows.
Pyromorphite Morganite Stibnite	July 9th Random mix of Sainte Marie specimens - This will lead you to a random assortment of minerals found at the show.
Madagascarite  or Pezzottaite	July 9th Red Beryl - (correction) Pezzottaite or Madagascarite not Pelozzaite- from Madagascar - I wandered into the Theater to see a few folks and saw that the Madagascar red beryls, first seen at Tucson, of Lino Caserini were still in his case.  He was the only one who had these matrix specimens at the show.  He had some fine specimens with the beryls on matrix available but they were pricey for small crystals.  I did not obtain any of these.  I also visited with Laurent Thomas who had these specimens first at Tucson.  He offered me some specimens of single crystals that I did purchase and he also informed me that the cesium rich beryl is most likely going to be described as a new species with the tentative names of either Madagascarite or Pezzottaite.  The story of these is quite intriguing and shows how the Internet is affecting the supply and distribution of minerals as the Madagascar government forbid the export of these while the Tucson Show was underway and after they had seen what the prices were that were being asked.  Other miners who had been working the deposit and salted them away also brought them out to dealers there in Madagascar when the word spread that these were worth a lot creating a temporary surge in the supply.  Subsequently, the government has relaxed the restriction on export but is working diligently to regulate it. All of this creates an uncertainty about the true existing and future supply of these. Laurent passed along a lot more of what he had learned about the geology of this deposit and there appears to be potential, given a more refined approach to mining, for a larger production from this deposit.  Look for more news about these beryls on my website as time progresses.  I have a selection of a few loose crystals - some quite large and one very nice TN specimen pictured to the left here.
Fluorite	July 9th Fluorite from Morocco - I found several dealers with specimens of this remarkable bluish green colored fluorite at the show.  The Gobin's had the best that I could find of any at the Show.  There is also a nice yellowish brown specimen from the same locality.
Fluorite	July 9th Fluorite from Dal' Negorsk - I found Dr. Ivo Szegeny, of Karp Minerals, in Tent 4 known as the "Passion Tent" with some remarkable new fluorite specimens from Dal' Negorsk in Russia.   This locality is well known for its optical grade and water clear fluorite.  Karp had a new find of large dodecahedral shaped crystals of fluorite that were simply some of the best I have ever seen of specimens with this crystal habit.   An example that comes to mind is the Sweet Home mine, in Colorado, which has produced perfect dodecahedral crystals of fluorite rarely reaching one centimeter in size.  And there are many other localities from around the world have fluorite crystals with cubes modified by dodecahedron faces such as Naica, Mexico and numerous localities in China. These from Dal' Negorsk, however, are the best I have ever seen in terms of size and dominance of habit in the dodecahedral form.  They are also a first from this locality.  I asked to see all the specimens still "under the table" and made a selection of about a dozen pieces.  Also included in this group is one of the more well known octahedral types with a scepter quartz crystal.
Linarite & Brochantite	July 9th Brochantite & Linarite - New Find! from Morocco - In the Theater I was working through the isles when something caught my eye at the booth of Pierre Clavel - specimens that at first appeared to be azurite and fuzzy malachite.  A closer inspection of the unlabeled specimens revealed that they were brochantite and the blue was in fact linarite!  This was rather exciting since it is the first occurrence of linarite that I know of from Morocco.  The habit is very similar to that found in Socorro County, New Mexico with flat lying but large crystals of linarite to 2 cm in length or even a little more.
Cuprosklodowskite	July 9th Cuprosklodowskite from Africa - The Gobin's had a flat of cuprosklowdowskite specimens available and I could not resist the challenge of bringing attractive radioactive minerals through customs one more time.... another story. Christophe says that this is it for their supply so it is likely the last time I will be offering specimens of this very attractive mineral species.  Keep in mind that these are naturally radioactive and should be handled accordingly.
Dioptase	July 9th Dioptase from Argentina - Argentinian dealer Jorge Dascal had a large number of dioptase specimens from a recent find in Argentina available.  The vast majority were rather dinged up and in need of a lot of work so I made only a modest selection of three specimens.
Barylite	July 7th Barylite from Malawi - Paul Botha had these specimens at the show and I believe that these were probably the most significant new find material, in terms of importance to mineralogy, here at Sainte-Marie.  The crystals are quite large for the species and many have very attractive associations with aegerine crystals.
Galena ps Pyromorphite	July 7th Antique specimens - If you dig hard enough you can find many interesting items at shows like Sainte-Marie.  In this case I ran into a dealer in a parking lot who had several flats of old specimens including two from the famous Archduke Stephan Victor collection.
Kësterite/Mushistonite	July 7th Kësterite/Mushistonite from China - French dealer Rene' Daulon had a small hoard of these very rare crystals tucked in  a box under his table.  These were first labeled, tentatively, as "Pandaite".  This name was later discredited as analysis done on them proved them to be kësterite - a rare zinc, copper, tin sulfide previously known from Cornwall.  This relatively new find at Ping Wu (also known for producing many fine specimens of cassiterite, beryl and scheelite) has produced what are arguably some of the finest crystals known of this rare species.  In almost all cases the kësterite has a layer of an olive green alteration mineral known as mushistonite which is similar chemically to kësterite with only the sulfur being replaced by an OH molecule.  I have seen prices for specimens of these all over the map.  The group presented here represents a good opportunity in terms of quality and value.
Cobaltoan Calcite Cobaltoan Calcite	July 7th Cobaltoan Calcite from Morocco - French dealers Christophe & Brice Gobin were busy between Tucson and Sainte-Marie.  They rounded up the show's finest array of cobaltoan calcite specimens from Morocco.  Interestingly, they had two distinct types of material available from the same mine.  There were the specimens with the homogenously and richly colored pink calcite and also an unusual type that no one else had which had white scalenohedral calcite crystals, as cores, with reddish pink rhombic crystals of cobaltoan calcite around the base.  This resulted in crystals of reddish pink and white tips.  Quite odd, yet quite attractive in appearance.  I was fortunate to be able to look at all of their material prior to the show.  Though these were the best available here at the show I feel that the material available at the Munich Show last year was a step or two above these in terms of quality overall.
Malachite	July 7th Malachite from The Congo - French dealers Christophe & Brice Gobin also traveled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and returned with these exceptional specimens of velvety malachite. These are not new to the mineral world but they are quite attractive.
Vanadinite	July 7th Vanadinite from Morocco - No show from Sainte-Marie is complete without some specimens of vanadinite from Morocco.  There is so much of it around here that the town of Sainte-Marie probably would look red from the International Space Station.  It is true that there is a bundle of vanadinite here but the vast majority of the material is sadly lacking in terms of color with the majority being a dull to brownish hue.  If you look hard enough you can find specimens with the trademark "Coca Cola" red color.  At this show French dealer Righi Umberto had a number of very fine specimens that I could not resist.  All of the specimens presented here are choice select pieces.  I never knew lead and vanadium could look so good!
Spessartine	July 7th Spessartine from Brazil - Prior to the Sainte-Marie there was a strike of new etched spessartine garnets from a previously known locality.  I was contacted by Frank Melanson of Hawthorneden a couple weeks before the show and he sent a parcel to me with these attractive specimens.  All of the crystals are floaters - some with fragments or small crystals of quartz attached.  All have razor sharp dodecahedral etch patterns which make them look like something else other than garnet at first glance.  All are quite gemmy also.  There were a number of dealers at the show who had these available but I was happy to get these vey reasonably priced specimens from Frank as the prices being asked at the show were enough to make your wallet jump out of your pants and run for cover! I photographed these with just a small amount of back lighting.  I wanted to stress the remarkable etching patterns.  When strongly backlit it is apparent that these are all quite gemmy.
French Fluorite	July 7th French Fluorite - There are always opportunities to obtain fluorite from France at the Sainte-Marie show and this year was no different.  I found three specimens worth purchasing from Alain Martaud from Le Burq and a dozen or so amber fluorite specimens from Les Causses that were obtained from Righi Umberto.

The 2000 Sainte-Marie aux Mines Show Report The 2001 Sainte-Marie aux Mines Show Report The 2002 Sainte-Marie aux Mines Show Report The Official Sainte-Marie aux Mines Show Website