Spessartine (Bedogne Coll.)

Item Description

A fascinating and fantastic gemmy floater crystallized spessartine garnet from the well-known 2003 finds at this locale. The pristine, sculptural, brilliant luster, cherry-red floater crystal has unbelievable dense etched stepped-growth faces on all sides. The crystals have dramatic 360-degree viewability under bright light! Every turn and tilt highlights another densely stepped-growth area of the crystals. The crystals GLOW, when backlit. An excellent article in a 2016 issue of Rocks & Minerals by John White, former Curator of Gems and Minerals at the Smithsonian provides an in-depth examination of this fantastic etched spessartine crystal phenomenon at the Navegadora Mine. A fine example with 23 grams mass. Ex Francesco Bedogne Collection # 236. Dr. Bedogne, 1942-2012, was a well-known Italian mineralogist, prolific author, field collector and collector. Read his biography in the Mineralogical Record Biographical Archive: http://www.minrec.org/labels.asp?colid=118.