Spessartine Garnet, Schorl, and Cleavelandite (old classic!)

Item Description

Initially famous for its early discovery of amazing blue Topaz in San Diego, the Little Three Mine later became well-known for another American classic, its much more uncommon and much more valiuable orange Spessartine Garnets in combination with Schorl and Cleavelandite. Most of these date back to the Louis Spalding Sr. era of mining (60s/70s), when the best all came out of this small mine in remote San Diego County. Here, the largest Spessartine is 2.7 cm, and although it is heavily contacted in the back, it is big and the right color; and does present good faces to the front. The matrix is the associated Cleavelandite, and the 3.5 cm Schorl completely penetrates the piece top to bottom (interesting!). It has an excellent, mirror-like termination, as I tried to show with the reflection of the light. This is a sparkling, representative piece for this classic combination, and the fine orange color and large size of of the Spessartines, as well as the quality of the Schorl, make this worth having. They tend to fetch higher values in County (San Diego) where they are somewhat of a Holy Grail of County Collecting. Combos with all species, and a big garnet like this, are essentially unavailable! Valued $2000-2500. This was recently deaccessed from the extensive collection of Bob Reynolds, who cherished both minerals and fossils as he collected. Bob is a prolific author and has had several curating positions in museums.