Smithsonite (unusually strong color)

Item Description

Smithsonite from Kelly Mine is considered the queen of smithsonite, for most collectors. It does not really crystallize per se in sharp form, and yet it is so beautiful and shimmering, and the color is so appealing, that it is one of the few noncrystallized mineral finds that have become important classics at a level with more textbook crystalline styles of other minerals from other historic locales. Kelly Mine smithsonites are legendary in American collecting culture, and have been since the early 1900s. However, good ones are hard to come by today. This specimen has an unusually rich and vivid blue color for Smithsonite from the famous Kelly Mine! It is a three-dimensional knob of baryte, coated all around with Smithsonite, front and back. It is complete all around, and just a solid 3-dimensional knob of color. When you look closely, you see it is not smooth, but has some surface texture and variation of depth to the encrusting Smithsonite. This depth of blue color is seldom seen. From the New Mexican Smithsonite collection of longtime show promoter and collector, Martin Zinn, who spent decades accumulating such a diverse suite both before he moved there and later, when he lived in New Mexico at the time. It is superb for the size and valued $2500-plus.