Powellite

Item Description

The Jardinera No. 1 Mine in the Atacama Desert of Chile is probably best-known as the type locality for Szenicsite, but perhaps the second most well-known mineral from this mine is Powellite. This piece is an attractive little miniature featuring a few vugs filled with notably pyramidal golden-yellow crystals of Powellite measuring to about 1 mm. We have photographed the piece with a Canon MP-E 65 mm macro lens to better illustrate the quality. The little crystals fluoresce yellow-white under SW UV light, but we couldn't get a good photo of it. These are rare on the market, mined 20+ years ago at this point.
From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #20585CL. Chet's collection catalogue states that he acquired this piece in May of 1986 from a "hippy dealer" at the Hackensack 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.