The Munich Show finally returned in the 2024 in its full shape and size as before Covid. There was plenty of new minerals, plenty of interesting people and friends, and vast amount of deals available.
The Munich Show 2024 was quite in a rush, despite having 2 days this time. Yes, even 2 days are too little if you need to photograph lot of stuff and meet some people.
Important disclaimer: This report is a personal view what I found interesting, its far from objective summary of the show as a whole!
You can check reports from previous years here:
My time for personal meetings and chats was sadly quite limited. I talked a bit with many, missed many others too. Just these meetings would require another day.
I talked a bit with Matthew Parshchikov, Albert Russ, Stano Jeleň, Petr Sztacho and some others. I managed to miss Ksenia Levterova, László Kupi, Fabian Wildfang and Max Schiller, which is a pity.
Main Exhibition - The Impossible Crystal
The main exhibition was not that nice as the last year, at least in my opinion. There were numerous displays with groups of specimens - either related by shape or origin. Some of these were truly impressive. However, the main exhibit lacked the top large specimens as the main attraction.
Killer quality ettringite from N'Chwaning Mine, South Africa.
Left: Nice calcite crystal with orange olmiite from N'Chwaning Mine, South Africa.
Right: Excellent cavansite from Maharashtra, India.
Great fluorite sphere on matrix from Maharashtra, India.
Excellent and huge sprays of mesolite from India.
Iconic piece of rutile and hematite oriented growths with quartz decoration from Novo Horizonte, Bahia, Brazil.
Classic sixling of chrysoberyl from Santa Teresa, Espírito Santo, Brazil.
Monster sized gemmy spodumene from Resplendor, Brazil.
Left: Red-brown uvite (tourmaline) on quartz from Brumado, Brazil.
Right: Scepter spodumene from Resplendor, Brazil.
Nice multicolor tourmaline crystals from Coronel Murta, Brazil.
Famous ball shaped chalcopyrite from Tonglushan, Hubei Province, China.
Pyrite cluster from Navajun, Spain.
Stilbite sphere on epidote from Diamonkara, Kayes Region, Mali.
Diamond crystals labeled as Kimberley, South Africa. However, the cubic one looks exactly like crystals from Kasai, Congo?
Excellent amethyst cluster from Veracruz, Mexico.
Left: Crazy growth of purple fluorapatite from Mawi, Afghanistan.
Right: Great amethyst crystal from Guerrero, Mexico.
Collection of various color gems all made in the same faceted shape was quite interesting.
Alpine Cleft Minerals
The selection of Alpine minerals was quite nice again. Much less Alpine fluorite and dark gwindels this year, on the other hand plenty of new sphenes from Austria, decent French axinites, anatase crystals from Norway, and nice brookites from Pakistan.
I noticed quite significant amount of rutile from Novo Horizonte, Brazil, numerous rutiles from Azerbaijan, and quite surprising amount of nice specimens from Puiva, Russia.
Iron rose (Eisenrose) hematite with muscovite from Mörchnerkar, Zillertal, Austria.
Classic green-yellow titanite (var. sphene) from Felbertal, Hohe Tauern, Austria.
Bright colored titanite (var. sphene) from Austria.
Rutile crystal from Griesgletscher, Switzerland.
"Swiss heart" rosa fluorit and smoky quartz specimen from Zinggenstock, Switzerland.
Left: Faden quartz from Piz Beverin, Switzerland.
Right: Large window (fenster) quartz from Switzerland.
Top cluster of gemmy dark smoky quartz with pink fluorite from Switzerland.
High quality pale smoky quartz crystals from Grimsel, Switzerland.
Etched dark smoky quartz from Grimsel, Switzerland.
Dark smoky quartz gwindel from Aiguille de Taléfre, Chamonix, France.
Nice axinite cluster from Rocher d'armentier, France.
Classic anatase crystals from Hardangervidda, Norway.
Large hyalophane crystals from Zagradski Potok, Busovača, Bosnia.
Left: Excellent brookite crystal on matrix from Ghatt Mine, Baluchistan, Pakistan.
Right: Etched pale smoky quartz from Tormiq Valley, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan.
Nice rutile crystals from Kaputjugh Mountains, Azerbaijan.
Left: Pale quartz gwindel from Manihar Mt., Himachal Pradesh, India.
Right: Smoky quartz gwindel from Puiva, Ural Mts., Russia.
Nice cluster of Axinite from Puiva, Ural Mts., Russia.
Classic rutile spray oriented growth on hematite from Novo Horizonte, Bahia, Brazil.
Pegmatite Minerals
The selection of pegmatite minerals was quite good. Lot of new spodumene from Afghanistan and wide offer of aquamarines from Pakistan. I noticed new microlites from Pakistan, while less pollucite and beryllonite than last years.
Tourmaline selection was very wide. Still some very nice specimens from Malkhan available, some new material from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Madagascar and Brazil. Interesting were new dark capped tourmaline from Goma, DR Congo, and lepidolite crystal from Namibia. There were also many new pieces from Myanmar, and some pegmatite specimens from China.
Amazonite with smoky quartz from Lake George, Colorado, USA.
Serandite (orange), natrolite and analcime on feldspar from Poudrette Quarry, Quebec, Canada.
Interesting etched and phantom crystals of aquamarine from Shigar Valley, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan.
"Crown of Chumar Bakhoor" - large cluster of aquamarine, fluorite and muscovite from Sumayar Valley, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan.
"Crown of Roundu" specimen with numerous morganites and tantalite from Roundu District, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan.
Famous "Supernova" aquamarine cluster from Shigar Valley, Skardu District, Pakistan.
Left: Interesting cluster with perfectly shaped morganite, etched kunzite and tourmaline from Dara-i-Pech, Afghanistan.
Right: Yellow microlite crystals on feldspar from Pakistan.
Left: Deep purple spodumene (var. kunzite) from Dara-i-Pech, Kunar, Afghanistan.
Right: Perfectly shaped yellow spodumene (var. triphane) from Mawi, Laghman Province, Afghanistan.
Hyalite covered crystal cluster with aquamarine from Erongo, Namibia.
Left: Pseudohexagonal crystal of lepidolite from Omapuyo Mine, Amarur, Namibia.
Right: Betafite from Anosy Region, Madagascar.
Left: Large chrysoberyl from Manakana, Mahajunga Province, Madagascar.
Right: Well shaped allanite crystal from Madagascar.
New find of large blue-green sanidine crystal from Itrongay, Madagascar.
New interesting tourmalines from Rubaya, Goma, DR Congo.
Left: Citrine cluster from Aracuai, Mias Gerais, Brazil.
Right: Perfect citrine crystal from Shigar Valley, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan.
Classic Paraíba tourmalines from Batalha Mine, Paraiba, Brazil.
Spessartine crystal from Nevagedora Mine, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Left: Rubellite tourmaline from Pyingyi Taung, Myanmar.
Right: Strange flat crystals of smoky quartz from Coronel Murta, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Mushroom shaped rubellite tourmaline from Khetchel, Malo, Myanmar.
Topaz, quartz and albite cluster from Gaoligong Mts., Yunnan, China.
Classic matte orange topaz crystal from Khoroshiv (formerly Volodarsk), Ukraine.
Smoky quartz and topaz cluster from Zabytoe, Russia.
Large rubellite crystals on albite and quartz matrix from Malkhan, Russia.
Secondary Minerals
There was a lot of various secondary minerals, as usually. Numerous classic European specimens, of course most of these quite expensive. Pyromorphites from China, still lot of vivianite and ludlamite from Brazil, some new finds of vivianite from Romania. Nice clusters of primary malachite on chrysocola from DR Congo, I noticed one nice wulfenite from M'Fouati too.
There was significantly less vanadinite than last year, perhaps also a bit less other African specimens. There was definitely a lot of dioptase from various African sites, also some hemimorphite and veszelyite. Selection of new natural turquoise from Erdenet, Mongolia.
Bright yellow anglesite from Touissit, Morocco.
Cerussite cluster from Touissit, Morocco.
Large bright orange crocoite cluster from Tasmania, Australia.
Classic dioptase from Altyn Tube, Kazakhstan.
Uncommon turquoise from Erdenet, Mongolia.
Large vivianite crystals from Cabeça do Cachorro claim, São Gabriel da Cachoeira, Amazonia, Brazil.
Green ludlamite crystals from Cabeça do Cachorro claim, São Gabriel da Cachoeira, Amazonia, Brazil.
Classic thick wulfenite crystal from M'Fouati, Congo.
Bright blue hemimorfite with veszelyite from M'Fouati, Congo.
Kolwezite after cuprite sitting on bright pink cobaltoan calcite from Kakanda Mine, Congo.
Primary malachite on chrysocolla from DR Congo.
Dioptase crystals on matrix from Kolwezi, DR Congo.
Classic pyromorphite from Friedrichsegen Mine, Bad Ems, Germany.
Uncommon type of pyromorphite from Daoping Mine, Guangxi, China.
Smithsonite after calcite from San Antonio Mine, Santa Eulalia District, Mexico.
Various Mixed Minerals
The general selection of minerals was very nice and varied. Generally, lot of top quality pyrite from Peru, nice selection of European, Chinese and African minerals. New material from Myanmar, and quite surprising amount of specimens from Iran.
New specimens included andradite from Peru, celestine from Afghanistan, multi-generation fluorite from Wuyi Mine in China, gypsum from Iran, rhodochrosite from Japan, siderite with quartz and pink fluorapatite from from Kami Mine in Bolivia. Obviously, I did not notice all news.
Green demantoid crystals in pale chrysotile asbestos fibres from Val Malenco, Italy.
Big native antimony from Seinäjoki, Finnland.
Bournonite crystals on matrix from Yaogangxian Mine, Hunan Province, China.
Gemmy sphalerite on quartz from Shuikoushan Mine, Hunan Province, China.
New fluorites from Wuyi Mine, Zhejiang, China.
Rare hibonite crystal (Ca-Al oxide) on matrix from Mogok, Myanmar.
Left: Dumortierite crystals inside quartz from Vaca Morta Quarry, Bahia, Brazil.
Right: Crystalline gold from Matto Grosso, Brazil.
Large faceted gemmy calcites from Brazil (left, 1800 ct) and India (right, 896 ct).
Huge mesolite sprays from India.
Nice precious opal from Opal Butte, Oregon, USA.
Left: Rutile twin from Graves Mountain, Georgia, USA.
Right: Malachite included calcite from Southwest Mine, Bisbee, Arizona, USA.
Large halloysite included "Mango" quartz from Cabiche, Colombia.
Emerald with calcite from Chivor Mine, Colombia.
Pink amethyst geodes from Pehuenches, Argentina.
Clear quartz with brown siderite and pink fluorapatite from from Kami Mine, Cochabamba, Bolivia.
Iron stained red quartz with Japan law twins from Kami Mine, Cochabamba, Bolivia.
Octahedral pyrite from Huanzala, Peru.
Red quartz with epidote from San Felipe Mine, La Libertad, Peru.
Andradite and epidote from Lima, Peru.
Scepter quartz with prehnite from Goboboseb, Namibia.
Nice diamond in matrix from Kimberley, South Africa.
Quartz with fuchsite phantoms from Mangatabohangy, Madagascar.
Left: Topazolite from Antetezambato, Madagascar.
Right: Demantoid from Belqeys Mountain, Takab County, Iran.
New find of large gypsum crystals from Lut Desert in Iran.
New finds of celestine from Darai Laman, Afghanistan.
Interesting botryoidal rhodochrosite from Oppu Mine, Aomori Prefecture, Japan.
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