Stibnite (large rare locality specimen)

Item Description

This is a rarity for California. A large, highly lustrous, 10.0 cm (4 inch) Stibnite crystal labeled only as coming from Inyo County (possibly from the Darwin District). Chet's catalogue entry calls the specimen a doubly-terminated crystal, but I think it's crudely crystallized at best, and there are obvious areas of roughness, so it's not pristine, but it does have some beautifully splendent, bright silvery metallic colored faces along the prism. The value in the specimen lies in the impressive size/thickness and the fact that it's from an area where Stibnite is almost never seen, at least in crystallized examples for sale in today's market. If you collect worldwide Stibnites or minerals from California, this is a cool esoteric locality specimen that would make a nice addition to your collection. From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #20536L. 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.