Stilbite on Chabazite (great color) (ex Chet Lemanski Collection)

Item Description

From a find in the early 2000s, these are simply some of the finest color Chabazite specimens from any locality. This piece features a few gorgeous orange colored groups of translucent, sharp, lustrous Stilbite measuring up to 2.2 cm across sitting atop beautiful and rarely seen red colored crystals of Chabazite measuring up to 8 mm on matrix. It should be noted that Chabazite is typically white or off-white in color, but to find rich color crystals like this is very significant. The pseudo-rhombohedral (they're actually triclinic) crystals on this specimen have very sharp faces, good luster and are intergrown to form what is an overall beautiful display piece. I cannot say for certain which species of Chabazite this may be, but my best guess would be Chabazite-Ca. For the quality, color and great visual appeal, this is a beautiful display specimen of this Zeolite species that often occurs in typically less than colorful crystals. From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #2986CL. 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.