Stibnite (rare locality specimen)

Item Description

For many years, the greatest examples of Stibnite were known to come from Japan. The old classic Japanese Stibnites are iconic, and rarely seen for sale these days. The famous specimens from the old Ichinokawa Mine are the most well-known examples, but this piece is labeled as coming from the Iyo District, which is also located in the Ehime Prefecture on Shikoku Island, but it's a MUCH rarer locality. No specific mine was given, and mindat.org lists that only mine where Stibnite has been reported from Iyo District is the Koboushi Mine, but I cannot say for certain if this crystal is from that locality. The piece is a fine, sharp, lustrous, silvery-grey metallic doubly-terminated crystal, free of matrix. There is a bit of roughness, so the piece is not pristine, but it's all about the rare locality on this one. From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #20509CL, and the catalogue entry for the piece states that it was exported from China and imported into the United States by The Rocksmiths, and was purchased by Chet on February 8, 2001 (TGMS Show). 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.