Aquamarine (doubly-terminated) (12.09 grams) (ex Chet Lemanski Collection)

Item Description

The Erongo Region in Namibia has been the source of some of the finest quality and most richly colored Aquamarine crystals in the world. This thumbnail specimen is an excellent, very sharp, lustrous, gemmy, rich blue colored, doubly-terminated, hexagonal prism, free of matrix. The underside of the piece is slightly "hollow", but the outer edge of the basal termination remains. A few small dings can be seen, but the color saturation in a crystal this size is incredibly hard to find for Beryl, so if you collect gem crystals, thumbnails or African / Namibian minerals, don't miss out on this one. Specimen weight is 12.09 grams. From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #17339CL. 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.