Staurolite (superb twin) (ex Chet Lemanski Collection)

Item Description

PLEASE NOTE: This specimen is labeled as coming from The Agua Quente Mine, but there is no reference for Staurolite occurring at this locality. The piece could be from one of a few different localities in Brazil, so we're leaving it at Minas Gerais to be on the safe side. With that said, this is a superb example of the species featuring a well-defined, very sharp, rather lustrous, deep reddish-brown colored penetration twin of Staurolite, free of matrix. Both crystals on the specimen are doubly-terminated, and the piece is in excellent condition overall, despite a handful of contacts here and there. One rarely sees twinned Staurolites of this size and quality from Brazil on the market these days, and this particular specimen dates back several decades, as it was acquired in 1988, and who knows how long before that it was mined. From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #2189CL. 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.