Vial of Zircon sand (ex Chet Lemanski Collection)

Item Description

An interesting mineral oddity in the form on a plastic vial filled with beige colored Zircon sand labeled only as coming from "Australia". From www.doral.com.au/zircon-sand, "Zircon is used in ceramics, specialty castings and various refractory applications, where its resistance to high temperature and abrasion make it extremely valuable in the manufacturing processes as well as ceramics such as glazes for tiles and sanitary wear. In industry, it is mainly used as a raw material in making refractory bricks, furnace linings and producing pigments in the ceramic industry; where its opacity and hardness gives a whiteness and durability to tiles, sanitary ware and tableware. It is also utilized in a range of other high-tech industrial and chemical applications." The sand in this vial presumably has been processed and was designated for some kind of industrial use. From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #3026CL. 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.