Grossular Garnet with Diopside (ex Franceso Bedogne Collection)

Item Description

I have to admit, I was fooled on this piece. Due to the fact that it came from a famous Italian collection, I thought for sure it was Alpine in origin, from a famous valley like Val d'Ala or Val d'Aosta, but it's from PAKISTAN! What a shocker, as this combination of red "Hessonite" (Grossular) Garnet and green Diopside is such an iconic duo from Italy. It's uncanny how similar it is. The piece features excellent, sharp, very lustrous, gemmy, rich orange-red colored trapezohedral crystals of "Hessonite" measuring up to 9 mm associated with soft green colored, prismatic Diopside crystals on matrix. There are plenty of "Alpine"-type minerals found in Pakistan that look similar to their European counterparts, but this one is near identical. Priced at $1,800. From the worldwide collection of famed Italian mineral collector, field collector and author, Francesco Bedogne of Sondrio, Italy (Collection #1471). Bedogne wrote dozens of articles and several books about the mineralogy of Italian Alpine localities such as Val Bregaglia, Val Masino, Val Codera, Val Spluga, Valtellina and the famous Val Malenco. He was also the founder of the Valtellinese Mineralogical Institute.