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| This last installment for the 2008
Denver Show will focus on the displays and a few final thoughts on the
show. The displays were very good this year with the theme being "Minerals
of Colorado". There were also quite a few displays of outstanding
quality with no particular theme other than just great minerals.
Keith Proctor usually has a superb display of minerals on hand for people to view. This year was no exception.
Collector's Edge also prepared a case at the show. Unlike Keith they stuck to the show's theme.
Several museum professionals provided a case of interesting Colorado minerals. One from the LA County museum was particularly interesting seen below.
Irv Brown had his usual incredible stuff on display. His case had 15 or so specimens including some rough and cut pieces.
The Denver Museum also had a case of fine specimens sticking to the show theme.
Bob and Carol Smith had a fine case of minerals from Afghanistan and Pakistan - mostly obtained from Dudley Blauwet. Check out the You Tube video I have prepared with Dudley mentioning his big sale that he will have at Tucson next year. There was a mild level of stress in Dudley's voice when he found out I was recording this...
The Mineral Association of Dallas
(MAD) put a case on display that was filled with exceptional specimens.
While wandering the last day of the show I visited with Dan & Diana Weinrich again. I wanted to look at couple of specimens I had seen earlier. A stunning veszelyite from Montana and an equally stunning elbaite from the Himalaya mine in California. Before getting out Dan showed me a mind blowing specimen of tanzanite. Hey guys will you adopt me?
I thought I would save the best for last. Colorado collector Ralph Clark has a sensational thumbnail collection of worldwide specimens. He is a usual exhibitor at this show but this year the specimens were just off the wall incredible.
Ok this will do it for the 2008 Denver Show. My take on the show is my take and I saw a lot but I did not see everything. The prices were as high as ever for just about everything. Depsite it there were still good bargains to be found if you put the time in. There was precious little in the way of new finds to report on. The new find of fluorite from New Mexico and the nifontonite also from Mexico were probably the most important new things here at Denver. Even so the number of fine specimens was a high as ever here in Denver. The only problem is the pricing. I overheard numerous random conversations with the same theme: "I am not a doctor, I am not a lawyer, I am not a CEO, and I am not a bank robber - so I must not be a mineral collector." I even heard Dave Wilber say that the reason he is collecting radioactive minerals is because everything else is too pricey and he is none of the above. A lot of dealers are still offering very fine minerals at prices that will not affect the kid's college fund. You simply have to hunt them down and not equate inferior quality with a low price. My next show will be in Munich in
about 6 weeks. We'll see then if anything new has turned up.
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