Aerinite (very rare) (ex Chet Lemanski Collection)

Item Description

Please note: The collection catalogue entry for this piece states that the locality is "Nassau, Hessen, Germany", and that the piece came from the collection of Dr. Robert E. Jenkins, former Chief Geologist for DuPont. With that said, the locality information is truly valid, as the Province of Hesse-Nassau was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1868 to 1918, then a province of the Free State of Prussia until 1944, and no longer exists, and the current geography does not lend itself to a specific part of Germany, so it's difficult to know specifically where this piece was found. Additionally, the mineral Aerinite does not seem to be reported from any German locality on mindat.org, so if anybody out there has some information as to where this piece could have originated, please feel free to contact us. With that said, this is a very hard to find example of the chemically complex carbonate-bearing silicate Aerinite featuring large azurite blue patches on multiple sides of the underlying host rock matrix. This material dates back to 1876, and the species has been identified in murals in Europe, used as a blue pigment. From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #18582CL. Chet was born 1947 in started collecting minerals circa 1957. He worked briefly as a drill runner at the famous Sterling Mine, in Ogdensburg, New Jersey and from 1987 to 1990 he helped convert the mine into a public access mining museum. He has held the role of treasurer, vice president and president of the Franklin-Ogdensburg Mineralogical Society (FOMS), and has been a board member and vice president of the Franklin Mineral Museum. The rare copper arsenate, Lemanskiite was named in his honor in 1999. Note added later -  the Hesse-Nassau area is northwest of Frankfurt, Germany.