Spessartine Garnet on Quartz with Muscovite

Item Description

This is not the typical Spessartine that we're used to seeing from Pakistan. It's not from the classic locality at Shengus, where some of the best red Spessartines in the world have been found. It came to us in a parcel from one of our sources in Peshawar, and he only could say it was from Shigar. With that said, this small cabinet features a bi-colored crystal group of Spessartine measuring 2.2 cm across with a strong reddish-orange hue on the upper portion and a dark red color below. The front side of the Garnet group is very sharp and lustrous with well-formed dodecahedral and trapezohedral faces. It's actually fairly gemmy when backlit too. The reverse side of the Garnet group is contacted, but it's partially re-crystallized in areas if you look closely with a loupe. The matrix consists mostly of Smoky Quartz prims (some of which show small dark radiation "burns" which took place in situ long ago underground) along with silvery-golden blades of Muscovite mica and minor white Albite and black Schorl Tourmaline. It's an interesting piece for any Garnet collector, as one rarely sees pieces that look like this from any locality in Pakistan.