Quartz (doubly-terminated) (ex Chet Lemanski Collection)

Item Description

Alpine minerals are a special kind of rock. They are celebrated for their beauty, rarity and the sometimes dangerous conditions / environments where they are found. Some of the best known European Alpine minerals are Quartz specimens, found in various forms, habit, styles and colors. This piece is a wonderful example from the Stubachtal (Stubach Valley) near Salzburg, Austria. It is a large, doubly-terminated hexagonal prism with a deep green internal color caused from "Chlorite" inclusions. The lower portion of the piece features crystals of off-white blocky Albite (var: Pericline) sitting atop silvery-white Calcite crystals. The prism faces of the Quartz crystal are highly lustrous, sharp and well-formed, As mentioned, the Quartz is doubly-terminated, and is almost completely undamaged, save a spot on one of the terminations where it has some incomplete growth from some interference in the pocket when it formed. A really attractive and unique specimen from one of the major European Alpine specimen producers. Valued at $1,250 in the inventory. From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #2987CL. 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.