Pyrophyllite (RARE locality specimen)

Item Description

This is the ONLY specimen we've ever had to offer from this little-known quartzite locality in the Swiss Alps. As a matter of fact, a quick glance at the entry on mindat.org shows there are NO specimen photos posted for this locality, so you know they're incredibly hard to find. This specimen hosts beautiful radial "sprays" of eye-catching pastel blue-green Pyrophyllite measuring up to 2.3 cm across, sitting on massive white Quartz matrix. The Pyrophyllite groups show a bit of internal translucency when backlit, with a color that is almost reminiscent of Talc from Windsor County, Vermont. A really cool locality specimen, that would make a nice esoteric addition to any collection, as I'll bet that the vast majority of collectors don't have one of these in their collections.
From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #18119CL. 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.