Dioptase (from the type locality!) (ex Chet Lemanski Collection)

Item Description

This locality is best known to collectors as the type locality for Dioptase. Most people think of places like Tsumeb when it comes to Dioptase, but the old pieces from Kazakhstan predate Tsumeb by over 100 years, as Hauy named the species back in 1797. This specimen is a great example of this beloved material as it features good sized, sharp, rich emerald green colored trigonal crystals of Dioptase measuring up to 8 mm long sitting on massive uncrystallized Dioptase matrix. the central crystals are in excellent shape, though the periphery is understandably contacted where it was separated from the pocket. A great example of this old material. For reference, the name Altyn-Tyube translates into "Golden Hill" in the Kazakh language. From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #2585CL. 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.