Fluorite (ex Chet Lemanski Collection)

Item Description

This piece is labeled as coming from the Shangbao Mine, but I'm not entirely convinced as the style and color is unlike anything I've seen from the locality. It is possible that the piece is from the Weishan Mine in Shandong, China, or maybe it was from a small isolated discovery at Shangbao. With that said, it's an impressive large cabinet display piece weighing in at a whopping 1,345 grams. It's a very three-dimensional specimen with a layered / stepped formation featuring dozens if not hundreds of sharp, lustrous, gemmy, beautiful blue color Fluorite crystals on EVERY SIDE! There are many cream colored rhombic Dolomite crystals scattered throughout which make for a great contrast and a great way separate the Fluorites. The largest Fluorite cube measures 3.0 cm on edge. The vast majority of the crystals are pristine, only minor imperfections can be seen here and there, and the only real damage I can see is along the edges of the matrix where the piece was removed from the pocket wall. A fantastic big display specimen, valued at $4,000 in the inventory. Keep in mind that big showy Fluorite specimens like this are not nearly as common on the market these days as they were 10+ years ago. From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #3355CL. 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.