Heulandite (ex Chet Lemanski Collection)

Item Description

This specimen is simply labeled as coming from "Sardinia, Italy", but I'm fairly confident it's from one of the quarries in the Monastir area, as it resembles others I've seen in the past. The piece hosts many sharp, well-formed, pearly, gemmy, very pale tan colored crystals of Heulandite (presumably Heulandite-Ca) measuring up to 5 mm in a little vug on matrix. The central crystals are all in good condition. A nice overall reference piece of this less common material. From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #16858CL. 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.