IMCA Insights – July 2011
Ensisheim Meteorite Show 2011,
by Various IMCA Members

From: JMMasson, France, (First visit to Ensisheim)
I have so many “best” memories of the Show, but I will name 3 above all: First: meeting a grand lady of 57 kilos; despite its age and its oh-so-well known story, in print everywhere, to see it in person for the first time is an astounding way to start the show.

(Photo courtesy Hanno Strufe)

The second memory is simply the great pleasure of meeting so many French collectors who share my love of space rocks. And the third one is seeing on Marcin Cimala's table the famous meteorite that fell in Poland in April 2011, a simple L6 but its fall made a lot of noise and it was great to be able to see here for the first time the first fall of the year. We waited a long time for its arrival.

(Photo courtesy Hanno Strufe)

From: Peter Marmet
Once again, Ensisheim was great fun this year! Perfect weather, great food and beer, entertaining music and dancers, meteorite aficionados from all over the world, on Saturday more visitors than ever ... and yes, they did buy, so most sellers were quite pleased and - I'm sure! - likewise the buyers. I purchased or traded in Ensisheim this year: JaH 203 a great MESO-C2 15 g partslice, NWA 6069, a 17 g Ureilite full slice, a nicely polished 9 g slice of Greg Hupé's stunning new ungrouped achondrite.
Then two small part slices of NWA 6349, a very fresh Brachinite, two triangular part slices of NWA 4852, a nice ureilite, two Sikhote Alin individuals with very nice natural patina, each about 90 grams, a nice 4 g slice of NWA 5797, a stunning CM2, a rather weird 4.6 g slice of NWA 5553 (looks in the upper part like a eucrite and in the lower part like a typical L6 chondrite!), then a small slice of NWA 5884 another interesting ureilite and a set of 7 rather special thin sections ... and finally a set of meteorite cards ... great fun to play!
So, if you missed Ensisheim this year, the party goes on in June 2012!
See you all!

(Photo courtesy Mirko Graul)

From: Greg Hupe
The 2011 Ensisheim Show was particularly special for me this year. During past attendance to the show I was always on the ‘buying’ side of the tables. This year I had the pleasure of being on the ‘selling’ side offering two of my Ungrouped Achondrites, NWA 6704 and NWA 5400. I really had a fun time, NWA 6704 was very well received by everyone who stopped by my table! It was great visiting with old friends and meeting new ones, you can be sure I will be back in 2012!!

(Photo courtesy Mirko Graul)

From: Laurent Jaworski
Ensisheim 2011! A very good year!
Ensisheim remains for me the perfect occasion to meet with other enthusiastic fans of meteorites, those weird rocks fallen from the sky, within a unique setting and friendly surroundings.
It is also the only time I can meet all the members (or at least, most) of the French Forum. Additionally this year two of them, Guy and Fabien, were promoted to Guardians of the Meteorite, in front of a large crowd. We now have 5 Guardians members of the Forum!

(Photo courtesy Mirko Graul)

(Photo courtesy Mirko Graul)

Guy (“Dark”) amazed us during his lecture about his DarkoMeter, a device, still under development, that could someday help hunters identify meteorites in the field. Within the Show, Ali and Mohamed had beautiful Gibeons, ureilites and achondrites, Marcin displayed Soltmany, the very latest Fall in Poland, Anne had not only a huge choice of thin-sections, but also some gorgeous slices of Tucson (Ring). Greg brought a large assortment of slices of NWA 6704, Mirko had superbly finished slices, and we can't forget Hanno, Peter, Sergey, Moritz, Mike……
Now I can't wait for astronauts to bring back rocks from Vesta to compare with the old ones we already have.

(Photo courtesy Mirko Graul)

And this year, Anne (Impactika), JMM (Jean-Michel) and Stelvino (Vincent) joined us for our traditional meeting, the Dinner of the French Forum Saturday evening at “le Boeuf Rouge”, A great time to get to know each other. Much appreciated by all.

(Photo courtesy Laurent Jaworski)

Finally, the highlight of the weekend, our visit to the monument marking the site where the Mona Lisa of meteorites fell in 1492.
I can't wait for 2012 to do it all again.

(Photo courtesy Laurent Jaworski)

From: Guy Verlooven
Thank you Laurent for this picture of the DarkoMeter. This beautiful Howardite shows clearly by the number “74” that it is a Vestoid like some of our dearest Achondrites, Vesta having lost some of its mass probably at the very dawn of our solar system.
(Comment by Zelimir Gabelica: This new prototype device that Guy has conceived and built can determine meteorite types by measuring simultaneously their magnetic susceptibility (variant of Rochette’s method) and their electrical conductivity).

(Photo courtesy Laurent Jaworski)

From: Anne Black
And since they have all described very well the Show (Thank you!), I will close by saying something about the town of Ensisheim that welcomes all of us every year.
The square between the church, where the meteorite spent several centuries, and the Palais de la Regence, where the show itself is held, is closed to car traffic but wide open to us all. Before the show even opens its door, the whole meteorite community meets in the Café right next door, where the owner, a very accommodating person, greets everybody with delicious Donner plates (yes, Turkish food in Ensisheim!) and beer. Many deals are closed there before, during and after the show!

(Photo courtesy Hanno Strufe)

Dima Sadilenko holding a nice Taza iron

Kiosks all around the square are ready to distribute beer, wine, t-shirts, or Tarte Flambee (the Alsatian pizza). And the discussions continue under the tent late into the night on Friday and Saturday.

(Photo courtesy Hanno Strufe)

This year we also found that everybody's favorite hotel (and now the only hotel in Ensisheim), le Domaine du Moulin, is expanding. More room for all of us next year!!

(Photo courtesy Hanno Strufe)

And finally where else could you also watch up-close a stork walking calmly under your balcony, picking up every cookie Mirko is throwing down?

(Photo courtesy Anne Black)

See you all next year in Ensisheim.

This article has been edited by Anne Black and Norbert Classen

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