Tinaksite with Charoite (very rare)

Item Description

A rarely seen and eye-catching display specimen featuring orange colored, prismatic crystals of Tinaksite measuring up to 1.1 cm sitting on light purple, "swirling", semi-fibrous Charoite matrix. A good portion of the specimen is filled with radial "sprays" of dark greenish-black Aegirine, though it was originally labeled as Acmite. For reference, mindat.org states, "Both acmite and aegirine have been used as designations of pyroxenes close to NaFe#3+#Si^2O^6 in composition. Acmite has also often been used to refer to the brown variety, while aegirine has been reserved for the green to green-black color varieties", so at one point these "sprays" could have been thought to be Acmite, and were analyzed to show they are in fact Aegirine. The particular piece is one of the more attractive and worthwhile specimens of this rare association that I've seen. It should be noted that Charoite is a very complex silicate which gets its name from the Chara River, while Tinaksite is not as complex of a silicate, and gets its name from its composition (titanium (Ti), sodium (Na) potassium (K) and silicon (Si) - similar to Cavansite). To the best of my knowledge, this is the only locality in the world where these two species are found together and it happens to be the type locality for both of them. I'm fairly certain that neither species has ever been reported outside of Russia. This is a good quality specimen with beautiful color and visual appeal.
From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #4075CL. 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.