harrogate mineral show
b.l.m.d.a the british lapidary mineral dealers association
Lapidary is suffering. Being a skilled art unfortunately there’s less and less full time professionals within the UK, however there’s still a call for repair and high end bespoke work but the majority of interest seems to be from the past-time market, will enough momentum build to enable this art to flourish again?
The B.L.M.D.A (The British Lapidary & Mineral Dealers Association) “a Trade body which represents its members and promotes the public awareness of minerals, gemstones and lapidary” is no longer. Is it due to the demise of skilled professionals within the field, lack of demand or a wealth of imported material being available?
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Will there be a quorum of lapidarists lurking to be coerced into forming a successor organisation?
Having been a member of the BLMDA for some time, guiltily I’ve never exhibited at any of their events, so when I heard the news I was somewhat disappointed. However Keith & Carole from Rock ‘n’ Gem Ltd organisers of the Rock Gem ‘n’ Bead shows seized the opportunity to organise an event at the BLMDA’s previous Harrogate Venue, this time I went along. Unsurprisingly there were lots of familiar faces amongst the exhibitors, on taking the opportunity to chat and ‘earwig’ during the pre & post show times, I learned that the BLMDA shows had become less attended than events of the past, reduced in size to a single room at the Pavilions of Harrogate, in its glory days the event was brimming with folk, more than double the size and originally held at a different venue. (I also heard the stand fees were a lot less!).
Like many shows you have to either be focussed on a particular purchase or very observant for great finds and deals. I saw several items of interest some for their uniqueness like the stunning Moroccan fossils displayed by Atlas Fossils & Minerals and large quartz with inclusions cluster from Shohab of Precious Gems, others because they were total bargains, possibly a miss-price or older stock.
The show was attended by visitors as far as Ireland (so I was told) and people knew what they were looking for and the focus was mostly minerals and larger display pieces. The show has been scheduled again for 2014, will you be visiting…
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