[meteorite-list] ENSISHEIM/ST MARIE REPORT

From: dean bessey <deanbessey_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Jul 14 04:24:46 2005
Message-ID: <20050714082443.21003.qmail_at_web31509.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

Well OK, I am a day or two late, but when you are at
the beginning of a 6 to 8 month vacation you sort of
lose track of time when you are on tropical islands
scuba diving, deep sea fishing and where what would be
a prime $60 seafood meal in North America or Europe
costs $2. But I will file a late vacatiion report for
anybody interested anyway.
I have never been to either show before and am in the
process of switching countries where i live so wasnt
going to buy or sell anything but just went to look
(And possibly plan for selling things at future
shows).
One of the best things I liked was driving through
small towns. I have been to europe dozens of times but
now I have a car rented and almost a week between
shows. i use this to drive around including a stopover
in monte carlo. (For those interested Driving in
Monaco is like being in a video game). The small towns
in france in the old style and untouristed are worth
seeing in itself. I never expected the small town old
charm of small european cities. It was a nice
surprise.
Ensisheim is one of these small towns and I arrive a
day early. The 400 year old hotel in Ensisheim was
built in 1609 (And then built again after the war) but
the restoration made for a nice old place to stay (But
needs air conditioning). Among famous past people who
stayed there was napoleon. Its the same hotel the
meteorite people stay at every year. My first night I
see another group of early arrivers and we have a nice
time chatting meteorites and drinking. The show itself
was opened with a ceremony and the spirol stair case
going up to the show was covered with drawings of
meteorites that was made by local schoolchildren. My
favorate was meteors attacking a fort but lots of
themes was there including hitting people and animals.
Distruction ruled. The little museum was worth a look
(Had to see the ensisheim meteorite anyway).
The show itself was filled with many of your favorate
meteorite dealers and rare types were available at
good prices. What I found interesting was almost no
bulk NWAs like i have seen at past shows. They have
been getting scarcer for over a year now. I guess
deserts eventually get hunted out. I loved this
meteorite rush. Lets do it again in 40,000 years time.
After the show every day there is a good meal
(Including wild boar one night) and much of the
meteorite world just talks meteorites and enjoys
themselves. And the special ensisheim meteorite wine
is not half bad (But the meteor beer downright sucks -
even after a bottle or two of wine).
The organizers have put together a nice show.
After that I just vacation for a few days (Including
starting my planned extensive 6 month suntan on the
French Riveria) and then return to the st Marie show.
Hotels are not available but drive 10 or 20 miles and
cheap 30 euro hotels are easily available (With air
conditioning to).
Parking at the show is a pain and food and drinks are
overpriced (Go to one of the corner stores between the
two show sites and you get cold drinks for 80 cents
instead of warm 2 or 3 euros ones in the show tents)
but the show has lots and lots of minerals.
I hear people complaining about shipping to and from
the show but if you can get around that there is
plenty of stuff that would be easy to make money
reselling on ebay. You can easily pay for your trip
with buying things to sell on ebay.
There are lots of meteorite dealers - partly as
everybody at ensisheim is also there. I met some
dealers that I hadnt met in person before so it was a
good show for me even though I wasnt bying. There was
more moroccan dealers than in tucson. Moroccan fossils
were everywhere and I even saw some fossil types I
havent seen before. Most moroccan dealers had a flat
or two of NWAs but again the lack of meteorites was
telling of what the supply is like lately. In fact the
only person with any real quantity of meteorites Was
Hans from Uruguay and his piles upon piles of campos.
Apparantly the real deals were made the day or two
before the show as thats when the dealers all showed
up with money to spend. The scenery was stunning and
variety good. I dont think I will do the show myself
next year though as it is to hot and I see a disaster
waiting to happen if it should rain.
I am however seriously thinking about going to munich
this year. I havent decided yet as I am not sure I
have enough NWAs to sell (And much of the 600 or so
kilos that I already have in morocco is spoken for
from customers wanting 100 or so kilos in the same mix
and condition as they are bought from the nomads which
i will send them in october). So I am working on what
my booth would look like over the next few weeks and
decide in the next few weeks if I want to go to
munich.
But it was a very worthwhile trip and I am glad that I
went to both shows. I could write more but i am boring
to many people. I wont get to Denver this year (As
denver conflicts with another show in Hong kong that I
go to) so hopefully I can see everybody again in
Munich (Assuming that I can get out of the Philippines
in one piece - lots of unrest here right now and
people with big guns are everywhere).
So I will just have to wait out munich on these
tropical islands. It is tough having to wait but I
guess there are worse places to spend time between
mineral shows than tropical islands. The only problem
for me right now is that St Marie and munich is to
close together.
Chao
DEAN





                
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Received on Thu 14 Jul 2005 04:24:43 AM PDT