Andradite with Feldspar (rare locality)

Item Description

A very rare Andradite Garnet crystal from a historic European mineral locality deep in modern Romania. This sharp, nearly complete crystal has decent luster and a deep, reddish-brown color. A textbook trapezohedron with dodecahedral modifications, the largest Garnet is an impressive 1.7 cm across. Imbedded within the matrix is a lustrous, white mineral with perfect cleavage (Feldspar, perhaps?) that has a distinct, orange-red fluorescence. Previously in the Willy Hirsch collection, this is a high quality, and rare, Andradite Garnet from the Delius Quarry. These pieces are part of a century-old Italian collection that was recently acquired. Its historic nature, aside from the sheer age of the specimens, is reflected in how dramatically geopolitical borders have changed since these labels were created. Note please that the location is our best guess at the modern location name, relative to the label.