On Saturday, 3 November 2018, the 18th edition of “Bourse des Cristalliers” will take place. The exhibition will be at Majestic Congress Center in Chamonix. From 9 am to 5 pm, twenty collectors will present their most beautiful minerals.
The president of the Mineralogy Club of Chamonix, Mont-Blanc and the Northern Alps, Pierre Bavuz, explains: “It's the club members who will be exhibiting and selling their crystals”.
The Club does not organise searches, from reasons of security (high mountains) and responsibility, as it is written on their website. “Every year, about 500 people go to the stock market without us having to communicate a lot. Visitors are really collectors and enthusiasts of alpine mineralogy”, Pierre Bavuz says.
The Mineralogy Club of Chamonix was created in 1966 and it has 200 members from the alpine massifs. At the exhibition on 3 November, crystals from Mont Blanc, Oisans, Beaufortin and Switzerland can be seen. The minerals will be presented by each collector. There will also be special findings to which more attention could be paid, but each piece of rock has its “charm”.
The entry at the event costs €2, children under 14 years free.
In order to better understand the passion and effort of the collectors, Pierre Bavuz warns: “It's pure mountaineering. It is not while walking that one finds crystals”. And the resource is “inexhaustible, firstly because the domain is huge. Secondly, rockfall and glacial retreat continue to provide access to new exploration areas”.
Interesting nature can also be discovered at the “Musée des Cristaux de Chamonix Mont-Blanc”, where a temporary exhibition, “Pascal Guiguet-Bologne, a passionate of crystals in Oisans” is still available for this year, 2018. Pascal has spent his free time, for 40 years, looking for minerals exclusively around his hometown, Bourg d’Oisans (Isère), in addition to his family tradition (bakery and pastry).
For more information about mineralogy and its history, types of rocks, images and more information you can visit the website of the Club de Minéralogie de Chamonix, du Mont-Blanc et des Alpes du Nord.
Club de minéralogie de Chamonix:
Address: Maison de village, 101 route du village, 74400 Argentière
E-mail: clubmineralogiechamonix@gmail.com
