Andradite (var: Demantoid) (old classics) (ex Kay Robertson Collection)

Item Description

A wonderful, old time, historic specimen of the famous Russian Demantoids. Demantoid was first described from Russia in 1868, and the Russian examples are still some of the finest Demantoids in the world. This piece is filled with sharp, lustrous, translucent soft green to yellow-green colored dodecahedra with trapzeohedral modifications measuring up to about 3 mm on a thin slab of matrix. The Garnets on this specimen most likely formed as a thin seam filling, as some of the crystals appear to be contacted where they were exposed from a layer of rock that was sitting right on top. Not all of the Garnets are complete, but there are several excellent crystals that can be seen with a loupe or more preferably under a microscope. Ex Kay Robertson Collection (#9704). Kay is a prominent California collector, who specialized in European classics (see the article in the March-April, 2007 Mineralogical Record and the 50+ page article in the German Magazine "Mineralien Velt" November-December 2017).