Magnesio-hornblende (rare locality specimen)

Item Description

This iron mine dates back to the early 1800s, and although you'll see specimens labeled as coming from the Philips Pyrite Mine, the vast majority of the iron came from Pyrrhotite. This piece is a rarely seen example of Magnesio-hornblende. It's the only piece we've ever had to offer of the material. It's a banal specimen comprised entirely of a mass of dark grey-green Magnesio-hornblende, free of matrix. What really stands out about the piece is when compared to the other few pieces we could find online for a comparison, this one has excellent color on all sides. The other pieces we found has a dingy rust color due to the presence of oxidized Pyrrhotite, so this is certainly a "clean" example in terms of color. Obviously this is a specialized locality piece, but definitely worth picking up if you collect East Coast minerals or specimens from New York. You can read a good article about this locality at the following link ( www.johnbetts-fineminerals.com/jhbnyc/articles/anthys3.htm ).
From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #20624CL, and the catalogue entry for the piece states that it was exported from China and imported into the United States by The Rocksmiths, and was purchased by Chet on February 8, 2001 (TGMS Show). 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.