Fluorite (ex Chet Lemanski Collection)

Item Description

A beautiful small cabinet sized specimen loaded with dozens of sharp, very lustrous, translucent, cubic Fluorite crystals free of matrix. The color ranges from a muted golden hue in the center to a stronger purple shade on the exterior edges. The underside of the piece is re-crystallized ("re-healed"), but it is contacted around the edges where it was removed from the pocket wall. If you look closely, you can see the Fluorites have a bit of stepped or "hoppered" growth. It's still an impressive specimen due to the fact that you never see Fluorite pieces of this size from Santa Eulalia like this anymore This piece dates back to the 1990s, when similar material was coming out of the locality. From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #9995CL. 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.