Spessartine (multi-piece rough and cut set)

Item Description

A rarely seen multi-stone and crystal rough and cut set from the famed Hercules Mine in Ramona, California. While various pegmatites in San Diego County, California are best known for producing excellent Tourmaline crystals, deposits near Ramona are probably most famous for their amazingly fiery orange colored Spessartine Garnet crystals. These specimens for many years were labeled as coming from the Little Three (Little 3) Mine, but they are in fact from the Hercules Mine, which borders up against the Little Three property, and according to the entry on mindat.org, "The pegmatite has been primarily developed where it dips down onto the Little Three Mine property". This set features two "Round Brilliant" cut Spessartines weighing 0.54 carats and 0.23 carats respectively, and measuring 4.64 mm and 3.61 mm, along with an "Oval Brilliant" cut gem weighing 0.28 carats, and measuring 4.87 mm x 3.06 mm. The stones have that classic fiery orange color synonymous with the locality. They are accompanied by a parcel of little (approximately 3-6 mm each), gemmy, sharp, well-formed "floater" crystals of Spessartine, with trapezohedral and/or dodecahedral faces, weighing 89.31 carats. It's not easy to get your hands on so many Spessartine crystals (of fine quality) at once from this famous locality, and faceted stones are all very nice in their own right. A very attractive set of these wonderful, distinctive Garnets from this renowned locale.
From the collection of Jim Houran.