Magnesite (RARE Cuba locality!) (ex Chet Lemanski Collection)

Item Description

Cuban minerals are downright RARE on the market, and most collectors don't even have a single specimen from Cuba in their collections. This piece is a wonderful globular group of off-white colored Magnesite that almost resembles a kind of coral in the ocean. The piece is crystallized on all sides and actually displays quite nicely as you can see from the photos. Sometimes the value of a mineral specimen lies in its origin, and while this might not be the finest Magnesite in the world, it's still a pretty good overall example of the species, but the fact that it's from the La Habana (Havana) Province of Cuba makes it all the more desirable. From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #0834CL. 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.