Zoisite (rare MARYLAND locality) (ex Chet Lemanski Collection)

Item Description

This is the first specimen we've ever had to offer from the Milford Quarry in Maryland. The entry on mindat.org states that the host rock in this quarry is metamorphosed gabbro, and that the specimens are often found as coarsely crystallized examples. This piece is not what I would call coarsely crystallized, as it features, sharp, lustrous, euhedral defined prismatic crystals of Zoisite of a dark brownish hue sitting on Quartz matrix with minor associated golden metallic Pyrite. While I can't find any actual terminations on the Zoisite crystals, the prism faces are distinct, and they are sitting beautifully on the matrix. If you collect rare East Coast locality specimens, or if by some circumstance, you collect minerals from Maryland, this is a fantastic opportunity to pick up something that is essentially non-existent on the market today. Don't pass this one up, as we don't have another like, and you can only get pieces like this from old comprehensive collections like this. The piece is from the collection of Chester ("Chet") S. Lemanski Jr. of Browns Mills, New Jersey (https://www.mindat.org/user-461.html). Collection #2340CL. 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.