Spessartine Garnet (excellent size and color!)

Item Description

When it comes to Garnet, regardless of the locality, the general rule is that the smaller crystals have more of the gem aspects and typically better color, while the larger crystals are often more of the side of being dark and opaque. For those who don't know, several years ago there was a discovery of world-class Spessartine crystals from Nani Hill in Tanzania. The top examples by and large were BOTH large and colorful, with some of the best orange color you'll see, even in crystals in this size. Keep in mind that most Garnet crystals are typically not much more than 1 cm (2 cm is a good sized Garnet), but the big crystals from this locality are larger than most you'll see from any other world locality. This piece is a very good sized, sharp, well-formed, complete trapezohedral crystal that weighs 146.5 grams. I consider it to be a pretty impressive piece from this limited find. It has intense color, and when backlit just glows orange. The color is due to manganese content, as the more iron-rich Spessartines will be red. The internal gemminess is also decent, honestly better than you'd expect for the size. The strength of the color is about as good as anything you'll see from his discovery, especially considering the crystal measures nearly 2 INCHES across! You almost never see crystals of Garnet approaching 2 inches in diameter from anywhere, but a crystal of this size, color and quality is a big deal. The piece is crystallized on all sides, and the only real damage is a small contact where it was attached to the pocket wall. These specimens are completely mined out, we'll probably never see them again, and if you missed out on them when they first hit the market in the early 2000s, now is a great chance to get a really good quality piece for a great price. We had this one at $3,000 in our inventory.