Bologna Mineral Show 2016
- The rough Bologna Mineral Show ! only the wooden material !
- I was not the only one to wait to be located, also Stefano Freschi and Corrado Vietti were there.
- My companion was as usual Gilberto Maggioni, the one who shares with me the Elba adventures ! here he is with some collectors
- Stefano Magnanelli was located close to us
- This is a 2 cm in size elbaite from Isola Elba, Italy
- A nicely terminated Moor's head from Isola Elba, Italy
- Maurizio Prati (nicknamed "scheggia"), had incredibly iridescent shining hematites from Isola Elba iron mines.
- One of Maurizio's shows with hematite
- The thematic show for this year was dedicated to "Mineral collecting"
- This is one of the cases dedicated to Prof. Bombicci
- Lot of interest for the pegmatite minerals from Isola Elba !
- ... and here we are, Gilberto and me !
This year the Bologna Mineral Show occurred at the very first week-end of March and due to the many medical meetings to which I have to attend, I was oblidged to bring all my material one day before the usual. So, I arrived while the organizers were building the Show ! Also Stefano Freschi and Corrado Vietti joined me while waiting. We discussed a bit about Tucson Show and on how many steaks we had together !
My location was the same as in the last 10 years. Though I like to change, being located always in the same place makes friends easier to find you. Bologna Show is a real joining moment, at least for the Italian collectors. Bologna is in the middle of Italy, so most of the italian collectors can reach Bologna with no more than 2 hours of flight, train or car. Quite easy, then.
Gilberto Maggioni shared the exposing area with me, as usual. We are good friends and we share a lot of our mineralogic hobby ! Our neighbour was Stefano Magnanelli. He is probably the most known and experienced collector of the Apuane Alps quarries. He knows everything from that areas ! ... when possible we share also some good wine, especially when having a sandwitch at lunch !
This year I had several new items from Isola Elba pegmatite areas, and many collectors come to see these new specimens ! in addition I had also very old millerite specimens from Cà dei Ladri, Bologna (collected on 1998-1999), and several items I got at the Tucson Show such as nice light pink danburite crystals from Mexico, Wulfenites from Ojuela mine, Mexico, andradites from Madagascar.
This year there were nice material from old italian localities. Maurizio Prati had several specimens of very bright and iridescent hematites.
The exhibit of the Bologna Show was dedicated to "mineral collecting" and how it evolved lla long the time. Some of the cases were dedicated to Prof. Bombicci, the one that systematically organized the collections of the University of Bologna.
This Bologna Mineral Show was a success, both in terms of visitors and for the quality of the minerals exposed. Real nice and large variety of minerals were on show. I have to say that most of the collectors visited the Show on Friday and a small number on Saturday morning, they are the real ones interested in new material or in improving what they have in their cases ! 50-75% of the visitors were greatly curious people, wondering how it could be that so many people collect or show "rocks" or crystals in a so large amount !