I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Joe Dorris is the nicest guy in the mineral business. He's been a friend to me in business since I started to dabble in it over 15 years ago. He's also a family man, a teacher, an Air Force Colonel and an artist. And for longer than I've known him, Joe has been bringing out Colorado Amazonite and Smoky Quartz specimens with more regularity, in better quality, and in greater numbers than anyone else - hands down - mostly using a pick and shovel and a dedicated crew: his two boys.

For many years, Joe and the boys have been quietly chipping away at the billion-year-old (give or take) pegmatites outside Florissant, Colorado that are known everywhere for producing the world's best Microcline var. Amazonite. For a long, long time their efforts produced a steady stream of nice material, peppered with occasional finds of an exceptional specimen or plate, and a few nifty pockets. But the Mother Lode, the Glory Hole, the pent up billion-year-old blue fire breathing dragon eluded them.

A number of significant events, each a long time in coming, culminated in the winter of 2000 for Joe Dorris at his Blue Smoky claim. Having prospected in the area for many years, he had located the claim in 1998, and finally won approval to begin using machinery in the summer of 2000.

For as long as I'd known him, Joe would get wistful when talking about the season's production at the claims, looking off into the great blue-green yonder and saying how he needed to get some equipment up there. That equipment arrived in the form of a big yellow backhoe and a skilled operator that summer, hired by Joe with money that didn't come easy at the time.

By late 2000, Joe also had a new crew. Tim and Scott, the two little boys who had worked faithfully alongside their father for as long as they could remember, were gone. They had been replaced by two young men, both knowledgeable, avid collectors and skilled miners, who had never lost the faith. When Scott came home from college for Christmas there was surprisingly little snow on the ground, and the three men found themselves of one mind.

Somewhere out near Crystal Peak, trapped for a billion years in solid rock, a beautiful blue-green dragon stirred. The Dorris men answered her call, and headed out to set her free...

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The Christmas Pocket was the first in a long line of smashingly successful discoveries by the Dorris family. Since then they have opened a number of very significant pockets and brought to light dozens of spectacular Amazonite and Smoky Quartz specimens with amazing color, great luster and fantastic combinations of other minerals - simply some of the best ever found. Still, not being one to toot his own horn, Joe remains the best kept secret in Colorado minerals. If you know him, you know what I mean - his stuff is the best - but he doesn't do marketing blitzes or museum openings or black tie events. He just keeps on bringing out great minerals.

So, here's my plan: I will keep buying as much of Joe's material as I can, but you have to do the same! Maybe, if we all buy enough of this great, great stuff, Joe will quit his job and go digging for us full time! Just imagine the possibilities...