Ugrandite Garnet

Item Description

A TOP specimen from the exciting find of a couple years back in Mali, four interpenetrating yellow garnets with the very TOP luster for this find - VERY few of them were glassy like this - most were waxy. This one was cherry-picked and had been in a private collection till we bought it from another dealer. From a knowledgeable collector: "Ugrandites are a rare intermediate between andradite and grossular. In other words, Mali Garnet. This series leans toward the andradite end, in my opinion. What seems to be unique is the very strong presence of chromium. I'm surprised that the body color isn't more green. I imagine that is due to the presence of color killing iron. I thought this might interest you. " Well, that is more than what we had known - we had heard that they were under study to see if they were andradite var. topazalite garnet. Anyway, if you did not get one of these, this is a superb one.