Corundum var: Ruby (obscure locality)

Item Description

Rubies have been reported from various localities in North Carolina, but this one is labeled as coming from Hendersonville, a city south of Asheville. I cannot find a mention of Rubies being collected near this city, but it might have been an isolated find. With that said, This toenail sized specimen is an incredibly hard to find, terminated hexagonal crystal with a fairly rich purplish-red color. The piece is in very good shape, and the only "damage" can be found on the base where it presumably separated from the host rock. The piece shows a dull red fluorescence under LW UV light. This is one of the better examples we've had to offer from any North Carolina locality, due to its size and the fact that it's quite sharp (most of the bigger crystals can be crude and distorted), and would make a fine addition to any collection of gem crystals or specimens from the United States. From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #6436CL. Chet's collection catalogue states that he acquired this piece in May of 1986 from a "hippy dealer" at the Hackensack Show. 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.