Zircon (ex Chet Lemanski Collection)

Item Description

A nice representative Zircon crystal from Astor ranging from the classic deep red hue to almost colorless near the termination. The faces are all smooth, lustrous and well-formed. The crystal is nearly doubly-terminated, were it not for some embedded Quartz on one end. The piece is in decent shape, though it's not complete all around, and has a few rough areas, so it's mostly a reference crystal. From the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #9079CL. 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.