Cuprite on Copper

Item Description

A good representative Cuprite on Copper from Bisbee, Arizona. The piece is features many small, but fine quality, sharp, lustrous, well-formed, dark reddish colored, metallic crystals of Cuprite measuring to about 3 mm, sitting on Native Copper matrix with minor Calcite . Upon close inspection, you can see the habit of the majority of the crystals is cubic, but I can seen some octahedral modifications here and there. Some of the crystals show smooth well-formed faces, while others have what appears to be an etched effect on the surface. With backlighting, a deep blood red hue can be seen inside the majority of the Cuprites for a nice touch. From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #8259CL. 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.