Andradite Garnet

Item Description

A beautiful cluster of fine quality, sharp, lustrous, rich brownish-cherry red colored crystals of Andradite Garnet measuring up to 9 mm across sitting on matrix. The crystals show a beautiful combination of dodecahedral and trapezohedral faces. Virtually all of the central crystals are pristine, but they are understandably contacted around the periphery where the piece was removed from the pocket wall. A great display quality miniature specimen of these classic Garnets from this former tungsten / gold mine. Interesting note: the page for Garnet Hill on mindat.org states that this locality "may have been prospected for copper during the 1860's. It has long been known as a source of fine garnet and epidote crystals", which makes sense as many copper skarn deposits will often have iron silicates like Epidote and Andradite.