Almandine Garnet on Biotite (rare locality specimen)

Item Description

Here we have a very hard to find specimen of Almandine Garnet from the Copperhill Mine in Tennessee featuring a sharp, lustrous, well-formed, rich orange-red colored dodecahedron measuring 6 mm sitting on black foliated Biotite matrix. The Garnet crystal shows decent internal translucency when backlit. A smaller secondary Almandine can be seen hiding behind the main crystal. No damage that I can see and the piece presents quite nicely. If you collect Garnets, I'll bet you don't have one of these in your collection, as they were mined decades ago (the label accompanying this specimen says it was acquired in 1978 for reference).
From the collection of John Whatley, a well-known Georgia collector (1939-2022). John had many interests and hobbies, and favorite hobby was collecting rocks and minerals. He was a member of the Augusta and Aiken, SC Gem and Mineral Society. He also enjoyed collecting arrowheads and he co-authored the book, An Overview of Georgia Projectile Points and Select Cutting Tools. He was a member of the Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama Archaeology Societies and he also enjoyed volunteering in the Archaeology Department at SRS.
You can read more about John at: https://www.thomaspoteet.com/obituaries/john-whatley