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[June 20-29]
Monday
Among the most interesting of all mineral shows is that which takes place at Ste.-Marie-aux-Mines in France's Alsace region. On Monday morning, my eldest son William and I arrived. Sales tents were being set up, but few people were around. We walked to the main theater where the show staff was working hard, but there were very few dealers to be seen. I did see Michel Schwab, who runs the show marvelously, and he told us to enjoy our stay, adding that he expected tomorrow to be very busy. We left for our apartment in the hills above Sainte-Marie, to await Alain Martaud, who was coming to tell us what buzz he had heard. But Alain, when he arrived, said that he had heard of very few new finds. He and his partner had been able to purchase many minerals out of the Bally Museum of Schonenwerd, Switzerland, which has now become a shoe museum. Much of the Bally Collection was dispersed to various Swiss museums, and Alain Martaud and Eric Asselborn purchased the rest. So I knew I would be excited to see those flats when they arrived later.
Tuesday
Tuesday morning saw the venue transformed into a beehive of activity. Cars were lined up in all directions, and parking spots were impossible to find. By 10 a.m., many of the usual suspects had appeared-Andy Seibel, Wayne Leicht, Ian Brace, the Gobins, Andreas Gurr, and many of the other top European dealers were all trying to get their cars in and their minerals unpacked.
The first new minerals we saw were the spessartine garnets which have been found recently in Brazil. They are dark red, and many are completely gemmy. In size they range from fine, small thumbnails with some attached quartz crystals, to small cabinets. The best three specimens, of small-cabinet size, were marked between euro1,800 and 1,900. The thumbnail specimens with small quartz crystals were marked euro60-100, and the finest miniatures reached euro700. This lot was with Jean-Jacques Abello of Cailloux (64 Grand Rue, 04800 Greoux les Bains, France), who also had a couple of fine, small rutiles and some of the new herderites from Linopolis, Minas Gerais, Brazil; miniatures of the latter were priced at euro120-400.
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