Federico Jimenez, originally from the tiny village of Tututepec, Mexico resides in Southern California where he has been collecting and making jewelry for many years.Today he is a world renowned authority on Mexican silver, Pre-Columbian and Mixtec (pronounced “Mishtek”) jewelry. He became interested in Meso-American art in his late teens when he and his father uncovered a pre-Columbian Mixtec Indian pectoral chest plate buried under their house.With the sudden ownership of the ancient pectoral, his appetite for antiquities grew, sending him scurrying from village to village in search of more. In addition to jewelry, he also started collecting Indian costumes.His private collection includes pieces from the contemporary, colonial, and pre-Columbian periods.“I have more than 200 jewelry pieces and 190 traditional costumes.I have no idea what it’s worth, but I keep the whole thing in the Bank of America.” Federico has organized exhibitions and acquires items for institutions such as UCLA Museum of Cultural History and the National Folk Art Museum in Santa Fe.He displays many pieces of his jewelry in the Anthropological Museum in Mexico City.