Beryl (var: Morganite) (ex Chet Lemanski Collection)

Item Description

A fine quality large thumbnail / toenail sized piece of Morganite Beryl from Afghanistan dating back to 2001. It should be noted that it's not easy to find well-formed, lustrous gemmy crystals of Morganite from any world locality, and good specimens haven't been in good supply for several years now, as the sources in Afghanistan are drying up. There hasn't been much found in places like Brazil or San Diego County, CA either, so you really have to search for good Morganites these days. This piece is an attractive GEMMY, thick tabular crystal with lustrous pinacoid {0001} faces and a frosted appearance on the prisms and pyramidal modifying faces. The upper portion of the crystal is complete, but it's contacted on the lower half where it was removed from the pocket wall. From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #18877CL. Chet's catalogue mentions that this piece was "A former Fersman Mineralogical Museum, Moscow, specimen (no label) sold at the Munich show by the Curator." 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.