Fluorite with Galena (RARE locality) (ex Chet Lemanski Collection)

Item Description

A rarely seen specimen from the Thomaston Dam railroad cut, in Connecticut featuring gemmy, beautiful blue colored crystalline Fluorite which plays host to a trio of sharp, lustrous, metallic, silvery colored crystals of Galena measuring up to 8 mm. The Galena crystals are mostly cubic in habit, but you can see small octahedral modifications on the corners. This locality is probably best known for its zeolites (Stilbite and Heulandite) specimens, and Fluorites are not terribly common, especially in today's market, considering specimens haven't been avaiable for decades. From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #0476CL. 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.