Plumbogummite ps Pyromorphite from China

May 10, 2015 - The world has never seen plumbogummite like this! Plumbogummite is historically rare, and has been worth more than its weight in platinum throughout much of modern mineral collecting. If this were old English material from the mid-1800s, one shudders to think of the value. China has once again eclipsed an old classic locality that reigned for over 100 years, and produced specimens among the finest of this rare species that all can afford to own. Not only is the species rare, it is beautiful and fits in many collections. This small artisanal (hand-worked) mine, in the Daoping lead deposit which is already well-known to collectors, produced plumbogummite and pyromorphite both in 2013-2014. Since the fall of 2014, however, something new has come out:  bizarre and completely unprecedented pseudomorphs of powder blue plumbogummite partially to totally replacing huge pyromorphite crystals! Most specimens came out in several big pockets in September and November of 2014, and have trickled onto the market since that time. We bought heavily at the beginning, each time.