Scheelite on Quartz

Item Description

The Yaogangxian Mine will go down as one of the greatest mineral localities in China, for the wealth of fine crystallized specimens it has produced. While, Scheelite specimens from the Yaogangxian Mine at not necessarily rare, this particular color is certainly hard to find in my experience. Most Scheelites you'll find from this mine are more on the brown end of the spectrum, but these crystals show a golden-orange hue, closer to the color we're accustomed to seeing from the Pingwu Mine. This piece hosts several sharp, well-formed, pseudo-octahedral crystals of orange Scheelite measuring up to 1.0 cm, sitting on a partial crystal of Quartz. No major damage on the front/display side of the piece, only minor imperfections. A good showy thumbnail specimen of this classic material, with a desirable color. Good blue fluorescence under SW UV light as well.
From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #16619CL. The piece was originally from the collection of Dan Serebrakian. 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.