Fluorite (The 'Incan Pyramid') (ex Chet Lemanski Collection)

Item Description

A beautiful and incredibly inviting display specimen of the classic old time Fluorites from Naica. This excellent small cabinet piece features a wonderfully modified group of Fluorite which started out as an octahedron, but if you backlight the piece, you can see internally there is a octahedral "phantom" which is overgrown and loaded loaded with hundreds of little faces all over. On each "point" of the octahedron, there are larger prominent faces that consist of a combination of primarily cube, octahedron and dodecahedron faces. The cubic faces has a bright reflective luster, while the modifying octahedral and dodecahedral faces have a bit more of a matte luster. The cube faces are so clear than you can see directly through them to the original first generation octahedral Fluorite within. Interestingly, the first generation crystal has tiny inclusions of an unknown minerals frozen within (likely Galena). The group shows a beautiful gentle green hue when backlit, but interestinly, there are small areas on the outer portion which range from purple to colorless. The piece is undamage on the front / display side, and even the back / underside of the piece shows a bit of associated Calcite crystals. What a special and unique specimen of these classic and world-famous Fluorites. From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html), who named this piece the "Incan Pyramid" in his catalogue. Collection #4248CL. 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.