Fluorite (classic material)

Item Description

An old classic specimen from the Allenhead Mine in the North Pennines of England. The entry for this locality on mindat.org states that this locality was, "the most productive mine in the orefield under the Beaumonts and subsequently the Weardale Lead Co., who started working the mine in the 1940's for fluorspar". The locality was owned and operated by the British Steel Corporation in the 1970s, and specimens were recovered and preserved for collectors. This piece is a good example of this now hard to find material featuring several sharp, well-formed, lustrous cubes that range in color from a soft lilac hue to a pale silvery-smoky tone measuring up to 4.1 cm, with a small amount of associated Chalcopyrite. There are a few small imperfections, but the piece is largely in very good condition. It shows good fluorescence under UV light as well.
From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #7621CL. 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.