Spessartine Garnet (Mandarin Garnet)

Item Description

Garnets are a diverse group, occurring in stones that are literally found every color of the rainbow. Multiple Garnet species contribute something different in terms of color. Some of the top orange color Garnets in the modern era of gems are those from Nigeria. These are Spessartine Garnets and are some of the most popular and hard to find gems around. These Nigerian stones were immediately recognized as being some of the best orange color Garnets out there, and it seems that the deposit has been mined out almost as fast as it was discovered! This stone is a good quality, virtually eye-clean, glowing orange color gemstone with a "Pear Brilliant" cut. This material is almost totally pure in manganese and has very little iron content, which is why the stone is so orange and not red as is often the case with Spessartine. This gem could be called what is being marketed as "Mandarin Garnet", because of the orange color. This particular hue is nearly exclusive to these Garnet gems and that is why it has become so popular and in some cases very pricey. Several years ago, there was a gem company on television selling material with the same color as this stone for $1,800 per carat! I'm not kidding, and people were buying it! Don't get burned like those people did, and snag this stone at a great price.