Fluorite (ex Chet Lemanski Collection)

Item Description

Fluorites from the Yaogangxian Mine are icons for Chinese minerals, and true classics from this prodigious mineral producing country. This thumbnail sized specimen features a group of very sharp, lustrous, GEM QUALITY, cubic crystals of Fluorite measuring up to 1.4 cm on edge with minor accenting beige colored Muscovite. Minor imperfections, but overall the quality is excellent. The crystals are so gemmy that you can actually see straight through them to the center. It seems that the heyday of Yaogangxian is over, and pieces like this may never be found again. From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #16618CL. 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.