Vesuvianite

Item Description

A hard to find locality specimen featuring lustrous, prismatic, dark brown Vesuvianite crystals in Calcite pockets (etched) from the Monzoni Mountains in northern Italy. The largest crystal measures 2.1 cm, but it's not terminated, as it was probably interrupted during its initial growth into the formerly preexisting Calcite. From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #16730CL. 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.