Spinel (excellent crystal group) (ex Chet Lemanski Collection)

Item Description

Fine crystallized specimens of Spinel are not terribly common worldwide, and good crystallized groups from the Katukubura Hills area of Sri Lanka are notably hard to find. Here we have a great small cabinet sized display specimen of this fine quality and limited material . These pieces were mined in 2004, and I haven't seen another crumb outside of the initial discovery. Spinel crystals of this size can often be crude and/or ugly, but the crystals on this specimen are rather sharp, lustrous and euhedral. The pieces from the locality in Katukubura Hills (attributed originally to Kolonne) in the Ratnapura District of Sri Lanka produced some really attractive specimens. This is one of the best Spinels that we've ever seen from the locality, featuring dark brown octahedral crystals measuring up to 3.4 cm with no matrix. Minor roughness can be seen, but it's still a very impressive example for the locality. Valued at $800-$1000. From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #20569CL. A former Donald Ferguson collection specimen also. 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.