Ste.-Marie-aux-Mines Show 2007

摘要

My trip to this year's Ste.-Marie-aux-Mines Show was (I hardly need to say) a great experience, especially as it was interspersed with some wonderful side trips to various French museums and collectors' homes, and even a quick look-in at Idar-Oberstein, Germany. Good times, good wines, camaraderie, and fine minerals and gems were enjoyed by all, as the following diary-style account should make clear. My Lufthansa flight 451 was perfect, and arrived at Frankfurt on a perfect afternoon, with hardly a cloud in the sky. I rented a turbo diesel Volvo from Hertz and soon I was on my way south on Autobahn 5 towards Basel, Switzerland. After an hour and 45 minutes I turned off the Autobahn and headed into France, and before long I was in the Alsace wine country, looking for the Rue de Vin (the Wine Road). I found it, but had to leave it again to turn onto the mountain road that cuts across to Ste.-Marie-aux-Mines via Ribeauville. My rendezvous at Ste.-Marie was with Alain Martaud, in the beautiful "Salamander" guest houses in the middle of a fir tree forest. Alain was there with Scott Wershky, a friendly competitor, and when I got there they were looking at flats containing about 200 minerals which Alain had culled from his personal collection; these he was offering to both Scott and me for sale. Scott picked out a few specimens, leaving me to dicker with Alain for the rest.