[Rockhounds] How San Benito County, California, became ground zero for a rare gemstone

Tue Jul 20 09:52:42 PDT 2021

Dear Andrew,
Thank you for sharing your point of view.
There are not many books that indicate if a mineral is to be considered
"rare" or not. One that I know is "The Complete Mineral Index for
Collectors", printed by Lapis (first edition in 2015). They use x = fairly
limited distribution, xx = rare, and xxx = extremely rare.
If you know of others, please let me know.

Regarding benitoite, I'm afraid I have to disagree. Check the locality list
on Mindat: https://www.mindat.org/min-624.html#autoanchor23
More specifically, in San Benito County, benitoite used to be common at the
type locality. Meanwhile, that locality has been collected & mined for a
long time and extensively, so most likely benitoite is a rare find there
and now. But at the other Mine you mentioned, it can still be found today,
by all who go there, because it's almost everywhere (I've been there a few
times myself).
So contrary to what certain people (dealers?) might want to make you think,
benitoite is a common mineral there. Consequently, IMHO you can not call it
rare on a locality basis, and considering the number of specimens found to
date, neither on a worldwide basis. I would call the status of benitoite as
"fairly limited in distribution", even though the Lapis book has it as xx.

More in general, I think it is better practice to specify why something is
being called "rare". If one only takes into account the number of specimens
known for a mineral species, that is a whole different approach than saying
"calcite is rare at that locality" because it is the wrong geologic setting
for calcite. I fully agree a statement like "calcite is extremely rare at
this location" is valid.

I assume we all agree that minerals only known by one specimen; are to be
considered extremely rare in any way.
On a worldwide basis, at what number of specimens a mineral changes status
from extremely rare to rare, and from rare to a "fairly limited
distribution", and further down to "common", is something that is open for
discussion, of course.
Cheers, Herwig

Op di 20 jul. 2021 om 16:23 schreef Andrew Turner <turnea55 at hotmail.com>:

> Typically, when mineral collectors discuss something being "rare," they
> are referring to the mineral only being found in very few locations or
> being found in several locations but not being very common at any of them.
>
> In both instances, benitoite would be considered rare.  It is only found
> really at 3 locations, the Benitoite Mine, an adjacent mine (where it is
> very rare), and an abstract locality in Japan where it is very small.  Even
> at the Benitoite Mine it is rather difficult to find (I've collected at the
> mine) and the mine is small.  So, yes, many mineral collectors have a
> specimen from there, but it is essentially a one locality mineral which
> makes it rare.   This isn't much different than red beryl which is found in
> 3 locations in the Thomas Range, 2-3 locations in the Wah Wah Mountains to
> the south, and an abstract NM location.  Taaffeite would fall into the
> other category, it is found in several locations but exceedingly rare to
> find at any of them.  In all those cases, it is different than something
> like Okanoganite or Tiptopite which are not only one locality minerals, but
> they are exceptionally rare even at that one location.
>
> Oftentimes, collectors also call something rare if it is a fairly common
> mineral but phenomenal specimens are only found in 1-2 locations.  I have
> heard adamite from the Ojuela Mine referred to as being rare.  Adamite is
> found in many arsenic bearing lead and silver deposits, but the specimens
> from Ojuela are probably the best in the world.  Only other place that is
> even close to that quality is Gold Hill, UT.  So, yes, you can collect
> adamite everywhere, but nothing of the quality of the Mexican pieces.
>
> Andrew Turner
> Salt Lake City, UT
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Rockhounds <rockhounds-bounces at rockhounds.drizzle.com> on behalf of
> Herwig Pelckmans <herwig.pelckmans at gmail.com>
> Sent: Monday, July 19, 2021 8:20 PM
> To: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors <
> rockhounds at rockhounds.drizzle.com>
> Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] How San Benito County, California, became ground
> zero for a rare gemstone
>
> Talking about exaggerated ... benitoite being one of the rarest minerals on
> earth?
> Most mineral collectors have at least one specimen in their collections, so
> I would not call that rare!
>
> On the other hand, it was neat to see that old newspaper clip advertising
> the newly found gemstone!
> Cheers, Herwig
>
> Op di 20 jul. 2021 om 05:00 schreef Paul <etchplain at att.net>:
>
> > How San Benito County became ground zero for a rare gemstone
> > Published 07/17/2021 BenitoLink Reporter, Robert Eliason
> >
> >
> https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbenitolink.com%2Fhow-san-benito-county-became-ground-zero-for-a-rare-gemstone%2F&data=04%7C01%7C%7C51f6213deabf41618af308d94b2d7898%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637623480937397284%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=7iekO30h9pIT%2BMG1C3Fy3nhOdaVTjr1XUGzUn7dEJ0M%3D&reserved=0
> >
> > A chance discovery in 1907 yielded a unique precious mineral;
> > now the public can go look for samples on Saturdays.
> >
> >
> > Yours,
> >
> > Paul H.
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