Saint
Marie aux Mine Mineral's Show
For the Italian version click here
From several contacts we had with
collectors and exhibitors in the Italian fairs we got good impressions of Marie aux Mines
mineral show in France. The show is of great interest both for minerals exposed and
for the particular lay out of the show, alonge the very fashinating streets and buildings
of an ancient mining village of the Alsace. Pushed by the curiosity we we have decided to
participate not only like visitors, but also with a small expositive area . What
follows is a short and absolutely subjective report of our impressions on the show
Geographic setting
The mineral show is organized in a small village in the
heart of the Alsace, few kilometers from the Swiss and German borders. In fact many
of the visitors were from Germany and Switzerland, beside of France. The village is
in the center of an old mining zone, in fact many are the callbacks to the last
extractive activity: the mines, still open for touristic pourposes, the mining museum
..... The outskirtses then are characterized from a series of other characteristic
villages of typical Alsacian style, relally very nice and historically extremely
interesting ..... then don't forget the wine... extremely good in this area.
Mineral show organisation
As already said above the show is not in a dedicated pavilion but in the roads and the buildings of the
city with a
general organisation and layout completely different from all the other european shows.
The exhibitors therefore are part in some buildings of the city (the theatre, the school,
etc), part in some large tends, and the rest in small tends along the roads of the city.
The general impact of the show anyway is absolutely fantastic and unique. From the
organisational point of view, then, the show is well organized and the support from the
logisitc point of view is very valid.
Along the roads a series of small restauration points where you can get a good alsacian beer or you can taste some of the specialities of this area are working.
Minerals exposed
Visiting the show I have not noticed particular new findings of minerals.
Anyway some specimens of the usual great
traders situated to the inside of the theatre were really remarkable . Very interesting
were the minerals from Morocco, even if only some of these material was of really good
level;
A lot of exhibitors had interesting fluorites, yellow from France and Spain, violet from USA, Italy, Mexico, pink fron the alpine region green to violet from England and finally some very interesting ones trasparent with colors from violet to green from Namibia,
The chinese minerals were once again among the best ones. A
lot of material was exposed, but also in this case only some of the material was of good
quality.
In general terms however we can say that the level of exposed minerals was good and
was offered to substantially reasonable prices.
Resume of our experience
Surely our experience from the point
of view of exhibitors wasn't completely positive . Probably we made errors in the type of
exposed specimens and in the positioning inside the show ( we were along the stairs of the
theatre ) . Anyway from this point of view we did not expect a lot since it was our first
participation, organized at the last minute, and therefore.....
From the point of view of visitors the final balance was
positive: we amused both during the days of the show, and in the evening in the
restaurants of the zone..... Anyway some material was very interesting and we acquired
some stocks that we propone 
in the site pages.
In particular some Azurite from Morocco on Dolomite or on Malachite; some Prehnite from Morocco ( very, very nice ) in association with quartz, with good color and perfect crystals; some Dioptase from Congo of good quality and some particular pieces from China.
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