Prehnite (unusual form - ''cast'') (ex Chet Lemanski Collection)

Item Description

The Brandberg Area in Namibia has produced some excellent Prehnite specimens over the last couple decades, and this piece is a really unusual and interesting example. This cabinet sized display specimen has a unique form as the central portion features typical botryoidal aggregates, but the outer edges look like strange solution "casts" where they formed around another mineral (possibly Calcite), which has since been dissolved away. The odd geometric forms, combined with the three-dimensional overall shape of the piece makes this specimen stand out from many others that were found in the area. While the color of the majority of Prehnite is a soft green hue, the lower brown portion of the piece is ALSO Prehnite (colored by unknown inclusions). A really special and unique piece of these well-known Prehnites. From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #19244CL. 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.