Fluorite with Chalcopyrite and Barite (ex Chet Lemanski Collection)

Item Description

Please note, this specimen is labeled as coming from "Bjelaja Retska, Caucasus, Russia", but I can't find a listing on any database for this locality, so if anybody out there has an idea where this piece might be from, please let us know, so we can update it. With that said, this cabinet sized display piece is a plate of very pale yellow cubic Fluorite crystals with superb luster, sharpness and absolute transparency to the point where they look like little ice cubes. The Fluorites measure up to 3 mm on edge, and most of them are virtually WATER CLEAR. Associated with bladed Barite crystals along with somewhat spherical clusters of iridescent brassy Chalcopyrite make for a great accent. Very little damage to be seen, though the Barite group is contacted on the back edge. From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #6850CL. 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.