Spessartine Garnet on Smoky Quartz

Item Description

When it comes to Chinese minerals, the Spessartines from Wushan are among the most iconic, eye-catching and highly displayable specimens to come out in the last 20 years. These are now classics and certainly some of the most desirable Garnets from any locality in the last two decades. This piece hosts dozens of brilliant, gemmy, glowing orange colored, trapezohedral crystals of Spessartine which are sprinkled all over the large, sharp, translucent lightly colored Smoky Quartz crystals sitting on a layer of cream colored Microcline. The largest Spessartine crystal measures about 5 mm across and the largest Smoky Quartz measures a whopping 10.3 cm long. The piece is actually recrystallized on the base, so a couple of the Smoky Quartz crystals are actually doubly-terminated. It's very showy from either side with a great three-dimensional quality. I've seen some Spessartine crystals from this locality that are dull or pitted, but these are smooth and bright! The piece is a in very good condition overall, but the top most Smoky Quartz does have a bit of chipping near the termination. Very little of this material is available these days, so if you want a good display specimen of these well-known Garnets, don't miss out on this one. It's very difficult to find such big showy display specimens of gem orange Spessartine from any locality these days. Valued at $1,250 in the inventory.