Fluorite on iron-bearing Quartz (ex Chet Lemanski Collection)

Item Description

This is a classic display quality specimen of the now hard to find material from the L'Arentolle locality in Eastern France. A pair of sharp, translucent, golden-yellow colored cubic crystals of Fluorite measuring up to 2.6 cm on edge are sitting on a layer of beautifully contrasting reddish-brown drusy Quartz (var: Ferruginous Quartz) on Quartz matrix. The Fluorites are in good condition, though not 100% perfect. What sets this piece apart from many others I've seen from the area is that the Fluorite crystals are beautifully isolated on matrix, and not a tightly intergrown cluster. I love the contrast of colors on the piece, which is a signature characteristic of Fluorites from L'Arentolle. From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #8797CL. 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.