Grossular Garnet, Diopside & BLUE Calcite (rare combo) Al Ordway Coll.)

Item Description

Garnet from California crowns this VERY RARE, exceptional and colorful large 3-dimensional combination plate from the well-known Crestmore quarries of Riverside County. Cinnamon-colored, sharp, lustrous, translucent grossular garnet dodecahedrons, to 1.5 cm, richly and attractively cover the plate and are beautifully complemented by a few lustrous, translucent, mint-green diopside prisms, to 2.3 cm and contrasting waxy lustre powder-blue calcite. The Crestmore quarries were one of the favorite collecting sites for Al Ordway and this specimen is an outstanding example of the kind of rare material he put away. He collected it in 1969, according to the label. The complex geology here has yielded a wide variety of species. See: https://www.mindat.org/loc-3449.html. Ex Al Ordway Collection. A very rare, perhaps uniquely large combination specimen from the locale. A MUST for the species or locality collector.