Wendy & Frank Melanson Collection Frank and Wendy Melanson put together a world-class thumbnail collection over the years, and one strength of the collection is the depth of certain Canadian localities. Although by no means comprehensive, the Mont St. Hilaire suite is particularly strong with fine examples of a wide array of species and associations. Mont St. Hilaire is one of the world’s greatest mineral localities with over 400 species represented, and it is the type locality for more than 60 of them.

Leifite is often seen is radiating spherical crystal aggregates, so this one with sharp hexagonal crystals took me a bit by surprise. The two crossed crystals are perched on a tiny dark smoky quartz crystal and have a single tiny rhodochrosite rhomb placed in the center of the crystals. A fun association specimen from Mont St. Hilaire.