Fluorapatite (flourescent) with Albite

Item Description

A cool association specimen from Shengus featuring a thick, robust, slightly translucent, light pinkish colored hexagonal crystal of Fluorapatite measuring 4.1 cm, which is capped by a "rose"-esque group of chalky white Albite, and some bladed silvery crystals of Muscovite. The piece is in good shape, and although the underside it not complete, it is micro-crystallized (re-crystallized / "re-healed"), so there isn't any real damage that I can find. You don't see 4+ cm Apatites from most Pakistani localities. The Apatite shows a strong yellow fluorescence under UV light.
From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #19009CL, and the catalogue entry for the piece states that it was exported from China and imported into the United States by The Rocksmiths, and was purchased by Chet on February 8, 2001 (TGMS 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.