Corundum var: Ruby (doubly-terminated)

Item Description

A fine quality, doubly-terminated "floater" crystal of Ruby said to be from Sahamandrevo, Madagascar. The piece has rich purplish-red color with good hexagonal crystal from, and it's complete all around. With strong backlighting, the crystal even shows a bit of internal translucency in areas. A really good quality Ruby from an older discovery, and not from the more contemporary Zazafotsy locality in Ihorombe.
From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #20486CL. The piece was originally from the collection of Dan Serebrakian. 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.