March-April 2009

The Schloss Freudenstein Terra Mineralia Collection

Fabulous New Mineral Exhibit Opens in Freiberg, Saxony, Germany

by Shields Flynn

On 20 October 2008, just before the Munich Show, a magnificent new mineral museum opened in Freiberg, Saxony, Germany. The opening of the new terra mineralia exhibition, part of the Freiberg Technical University Mining Academy (Bergakedemie Freiberg) in the Freudenstein Castle (Schloss Freudenstein) brings to the mineral world the exciting opportunity to view a world-class collection, that of Dr. Erika Pohl-Ströher of Switzerland. In 2004 the Dr. Erika Pohl-Ströher Foundation committed to place a portion of her private mineral collection, approximately five thousand specimens, on permanent loan to the Mining Academy. Pohl-Ströher has been a serious collector of top-quality worldwide minerals, gems, and meteorites for more than sixty years, and until now her collection had been seen by only a limited community of friends and dealers, a fact that greatly enhances the importance of this museum opening.

Shields Flynn, who has a bachelor’s degree in geology, is a mineral dealer. In 2005, he and Gene Meieran conceived the idea to feature the best U.S. minerals at an upcoming Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, resulting in the American Mineral Treasures exhibit as the feature of the 2008 show.

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