Here you have a dramatic, large, 3-dimensional specimen from a very rare and old find - literally a vertical tower of light gossan matrix completely smothered by sparkling balls of botryoidal mimetite. The color is a saturated yellow, nearly the best you can get for the locality and far more desirable than orange-yellow hues. It is brilliantly sparkling in light due to a secondary miute deposition atop the larger "balls." The color is a very intense orangey-yellow hue. ALL such mimetites as this were collected in a single large find in end of 1968 and start of 1969 by Benny Fenn (right before the Tucson show of that year!), from a one-time pocket at a small prospect. It was literally a small prospect, not even a developing mine, and it never panned out or produced more specimens again. Despite attempts to find another mimetite pocket, no more ever came out after one release in 1969 , which was sold off at the Tucson show. These remain unique in the world for their overall aspect; and large, colorful pieces like this are treasured by those who have them. Even at the time, this would have been considered exceptional for its elegant vertical aesthetics. The color grade on this is very high, making it a choice specimen even among those of us who have seen many over the years. ex. Dr. Gary Hansen Collection (I bought this collection in 2003 and sold it to Dave Stoudt, within days after). . Joe Budd photos.

These stunning smithsonites, a lustrous apple green in color, came out at the Denver show of 1999 with dealer Dan Belsher (now deceased) and were immediately snatched up by the top collectors. Resale prices a day later were already double and triple the starting prices from the mine, in a rather intense competitive sprint to own one. NO MORE were ever mned, of this starling quality for size, thickness, color, and translucency. To many of us, for its unique combination of qualities, this single pocket has produced the finest overall smithsonites ever to come out of Mexico. The best pieces, as with this one, had a startling 3-dimensionality and the very distinct association with beautiful hemimorphite. They were, even at the time they came out, priced like gold. There was some debate about whether the green color was caused by minute copper content, and I am not sure how that played out. Certainly, when compared to green smithsonites from other locales, these are a different, very unique hue. Today, the few you ever see come to market are usually small ; and yet cost already $4-5k. This piece has a very solid provenance in the find. California dealer Cal Graeber got most of the lot when they came out, and this piece was sold to a good collector and customer of his in San Diego, Irv Brown (it was later traded out when he switched from collecting small cabs only, to all sizes of specimens). The Graebers collect Mexican minerals themselves and kept a specimen for their collection, but this one was just a little big in its size for their suite , and so it was allowed out the door although we all considered it to be one of the 3-4 best pieces at the time. It looks good either horizontally or vertically. I personally recall that this was one of the absolute best of them, from the majority of the pocket that I saw at the time at that Denver show of 1999. I was able to obtain it down the road, and I sold it into the Stoudt collection soon after. It is the only such major example from this find that I have seen hit the market again, in almost 10 years now.. Joe Budd photos.

This is a major, large, rhodochrosite specimen for the locality. Few such examples ever turn up, and this is the best of its particular and very unique style, that I have seen for sale. I am told they were found in the 1970s or prior. Note the unusual elongation of the body of the crystal, combined with a then-sudden termination atop. The color is cherry red, with a microthin coating of quartz on some oriented faces that gives a "frosted" look to the elongated side faces. The terminations stick out freely, all the more bright and sharp for the contrast. The horizon of the piece is gorgeous, indicating a very careful trim job. As the matrix is a soft gangue host rock, it has been stabilized on the reverse with a small amount of glue to ensure it stays together. A MAJOR Mexican piece....But as a very showy and different rhodochrosite by any standard, this is more than just a locality specimen. I found this specimen in an old collection in 2003, and sold it to the Stoudts at the time. Joe Budd photos.