Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines 2006 News
(esta página en español)
New
finds at Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines 2006 
Welcome to Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, the
town where even the cats are relaxed. 
But watch out – every year during the last week of June
it ‘erupts’ (mineralogically speaking).
Ste.
Marie is a really charming town in the heart of the Val d'Argent valley, within
the French Alsace. It is working hard to recover its previous glory, for example
with the Mining
and Textile Museum,
which is in the centre of the village and is well worth a visit if you want
to understand better the mining history of the region.
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Not
only is Sainte-Marie beautiful, but the surrounding area is also worth visiting.
This year, on the day before the show, we visited Châtenois, a charming
village with a medieval past that we really liked, with its streets full of history,
and its Tour des Sorcières where the storks nest.
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Let’s
move on to the show! This year was quite different, as the tents have vanished
and have been replaced by two large, closed, modern and functional halls, where
the majority of the dealers who used to be in the tents have moved. There were
also lots of new dealers, so the show has become one of the largest in the world,
with over 900 dealers.
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On one hand we will lose some of the special atmosphere but, given the stature the show has achieved, I think that the change will be for the better. In the first photo you can see our stand looking much as it always has. In front of it is Joan Rosell, the enthusiastic editor of the new magazine Mineral Up, who is looking at a pink Variscite that, after a short while, became (for a short period?) the new love of his life. In the right hand photo you can see me being interviewed by one of the main radio station in Alsace, Radio Dreyeckland. Good luck to the listeners to the station, I hope they understood something of what I said! In the other photos you can see the new look of the Theatre, already remodeled, and in the right hand one an old photo of the theatre with its current layout, which we will never see again… |
The first photo is of the well known
German collector Paul Stahl, with a heavy load of what must be marvelous specimens.
Julia, behind him, seems to be smiling and wondering “where are you going
with all that”.
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The
weather during Ste Marie can be extreme, either it is far too hot, or it is quite
cool, or there are major thunder storms. This year we were lucky, as the major
wind and rain storm that affected us all, even cutting off all power supplies,
occurred after the show had ended and after most of the material had been packed
up. So the damage was minimal. It really was a violent major storm, as you can
guess from the two photos that we took.
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A
la prochaine! |
New
finds at Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines 2006
The Jordi Fabre Collection
The
Vault
Express Minerals
by C. Manresa
Expominerals
Updates
Minerals - Virtual Museum(#MVM)
The Jordi Fabre Collection |
The Vault |
Express Minerals by C. Manresa |
Expominerals |
Updates |
Minerals - Virtual Museum(#MVM) |
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