Topaz (excellent RARE locality specimen) (ex Chet Lemanski Collection)

Item Description

This is the very first specimen of Topaz from the Tenkergin Mine that we've ever had to offer, and it's a fine quality example to boot! This remote tin/tungsten deposit lies in the Far East region of Russia, and is actually very close to the 180th meridian or antimeridian, where the Western and Eastern Hemispheres are separated. Very few mineral specimens have been seen from this locality, outside of some beautiful orange Scheelites that came out in the 1990s. This showy small cabinet display specimen features a beautiful group of sharp, lustrous, well-formed, prismatic, striated, silvery colored Topaz crystals in parallel growth associated with a scattered cluster of dark brown Cassiterite crystals on a very thin layer of matrix. The largest Topaz measures 5.2 cm long, and is actually doubly-terminated! Minor damage can be seen, the piece is in very good condition all around and displays quite well on its own without the aid of a base or clay. You may never have the opportunity to get your hands on another Topaz specimen of this quality from this obscure locality, so don't pass this one up, as it's fine quality and beautiful. I would put a retail value on this one around $2,000 for the simple fact that it's a remarkable example of a commonly known species from a locality that is virtually impossible to find on the market. From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #18991CL. 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.