Fender Minerals

Hello.  I am Maryanne Fender.  I married into a family of long time mineral collectors.  In 1996 John and I started selling minerals at shows as Fender Natural Resources.  We still sell at shows in Tucson, Denver and in Texas.  Recently I branched out selling cabochons, jewelry stones, crystals and miniature minerals on Etsy.

We are always asked "What do you collect?"  So I am starting this blog to answer that question.  John pursues collecting macro (can be seen without aid of magnification) very rare minerals ranging in size from 2 inches up to about 8 inches.  I collect just about anything as long as it is a thumbnail mineral - that is a macro mineral that can fit into a 1 inch cube.  Thumbnail mineral collectors store their prizes in small clear acrylic boxes called "perkies" which are a 1.25 inch cube.

  Thumbnail collectors traditionally have arranged their collection alphabetically so today I start with Adamite. So here is one of my many adamites.

 Adamites is a  fairly rare arsenate mineral and some of the best come from Mina Ojuela, Mapimi, Durango, Mexico - as does this specimen.  The yellow adamites fluoresce a lovely kelly green when lit with a short wave ultraviolet light. The yellow adamites range in color to a yellowish green. Adamite also comes in a violet variety called Mangan Adamite and a blue green variety called Cuprian Adamite.  You can learn more about adamite at webmineral: Adamite Mineral Data.