Deerite (incredibly rare)

Item Description

Deerite is an incredibly rare iron manganese aluminum silicate species, first found at the Laytonville Quarry in Mendocino County, California. The species was named after William Deer in 1964, who was a mineralogist at Cambridge University. Although Deerite has been reported from about 30 localities around the world, I've never seen a crumb of it outside of the Laytonville Quarry. This piece is a good quality example featuring vitreous jet black Deerite on matrix. A great piece for any fan of rarities or minerals from the type locality. From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #2641CL. 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.