Lavendulan with Chenevixite (rare) (ex Chet Lemanski Collection)

Item Description

A beautiful example of this seldom seen material from the El Guanaco Mine in Chile featuring lustrous individual crystals and crystal aggregates of turquoise-blue Lavendulan with coatings of pastel-green Chenevixite on matrix. In Chet's collection catalogue, he questioned as to whether there could be Lemanskiite (!) on this piece, as it is the tetragonal dimorph of Lavendulan, and both species have been found at the El Guanaco Mine (which is actually the type locality for Lemanskiite). A great piece for any fan of rarities, or minerals of Chile. You never see such rich and showy pieces of this material anymore, and this one actually sits beautifully on its own without the aid of a base or clay. From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #21905CL. 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.