Fluorite w/ Celestine (old - 1940s!) Chet Lemanski Coll.

Item Description

Impressive large old-time fluorite from the famous White Rock Quarry at Clay Center. Intergrown lustrous, glassy, translucent, classic amber to root beer-brown cubes form a sculptural specimen. The VERY LARGE cube for the locale on the bottom is 8.1 cm across and the sharp cube above is 5.5 cm. Cubes are generally less than 6.0 cm. The highly lustrous stepped-growth faces add much character. Embedded celestine blades on the upper left are a typical and contrasting accessory. Nearly pristine, with only gentle bruising to the large cube. Clay Center fluorites are among the world's best known and instantly recognized fluorites. The quarry opened in the 1870s and most specimens are considered to be decades old classics, as collecting is restricted. The exception is the superb large lot of specimens marketed from a 2006 find in 2007. Ex Chet Lemanski Collection and acquired in 2001. OLD material, collected in the 1940s according to Chet's catalogue. See the excellent locality article in the 2020 Mineralogical Record, Vol. 51, No. 5. Ghostly white fluorescence. An exceptional and classic old-time large specimen with an exceedingly large cube.