Thursday, November 1, 2012

Munich Show 2012


Alyssa and I attended for the first time the Munich Show, as we have been lucky enough to have found sponsors to fund our trip there. I do not think I am exaggerating when saying that I have been blown away by the show! Four huge halls of what used to be an airport were transformed into an impressive market for minerals, fossils and gems! In two of those halls, an impressive temporary exhibit was put into place by the Show organizers and the good will of museums and private collectors. We were proud and happy to have brought 6 minerals to be part of this special "African Secrets" exhibit!

The show opened on Thursday 25, October for the "professional day". As the special exhibit needed to be put together by Wednesday,  I flew on Monday 22nd, arriving on the Tuesday at night. As soon as I was done with custom, I took a cab to the Neue Messe München, where the show was held. I had a warm welcome by Christoph Keilmann and his team upon arrival, with a German beer put into my hand not a minute after I arrived! The minerals were safely stored in the vault, and Christoph showed me around. I was impressed that already on the Tuesday, some dealers in Hall A6 were already set up, some with all of their rocks already on display. At 8pm, the Spirifer team was still working on their booth!
It was soon time for me to head to the hotel, and try to catch up with a missed night of sleep.

On Wednesday 24th, I met up with Alyssa who has been in Munich for already a few days. We noticed that half of the dealers were almost ready for their first sale! We began helping for the set up of the African Secrets exhibit, of which Ian and Diana were in charge of. We did most of the work on the Thursday though. Here are a few pics of the set up:
Ian and Diana discussing the organization.
Cutting the pre-labels of 600 specimens. That was fun!!! 
Done with organizing the labels, time for a break!
Now that the "African Secrets" exhibit is built, it's time to put rocks in it! Frederico is getting his Madagascar specimens out.
 The Moroccan corner getting ready.
Set up of the lighting for the liddocoatite from Madagascar.
 Lois displaying the African gold and emerald.
 Set up of the lighting for the tanzanite.
 Christophe Keilmann, behind the amazing gems from Africa.

Click to read more about the special tanzanite exhibit, and the rest of the African exhibits!