Spessartine Garnet (superb size and color!)

Item Description

When it comes to Garnet, regardless of the locality, the vast majority of crystals are either small and gemmy/colorful or large and dark/opaque. Several year ago there was a discovery of world-class Spessartines from Nani Hill in Tanzania where by and large were BOTH large and colorful, with some of the best orange color you'll see, especially 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, trapezohedral crystal (with small dodecahedral modifications on a couple faces that weighs 267.3 grams. I consider it to be a major piece from this limited find. It has intense color, and when backlit just glows orange. The internal gemminess is also fairly good, 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 OVER 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 broken spot on the back 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 $5,000 in our inventory.