Grossular var: Hessonite with Diopside (classic material)

Item Description

Here's a great European Alpine classic from the rodingite outcrops in the Lanzo Valleys of the Piedmont of Italy. Of all the Italian Alpine minerals, one of the most recognized associations from are the beautiful red Grossular and green Diopside combinations. This piece features many superb, sharp, lustrous, gemmy reddish-orange color dodecahedral crystals with trapezohedral modifications of Grossular var: Hessonite with small pale green prismatic crystals of Diopside along with darker blue-green Clinochlore. The largest Hessonite measures about 3 mm across. The crystals are best seen with a bit of magnification, and they look wonderful up close. You don't often seen a lot of cabinet sized display pieces of this material, and This is a good specimen for anyone interested in Italian Alpine minerals or worldwide Garnet. This piece was collected circa 1980.
From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #2175CL. 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.