Uvarovite Garnet with Calcite

Item Description

The Saranovskii Mine is the type locality for Uvarovite Garnet, which gets its intense green color from chromium content. This specimen is a nice miniature features dozens of tiny <1mm, razor-sharp, highly lustrous, strong green colored dodecahedra of Uvarovite associated with white to colorless, gemmy / translucent Calcite crystals measuring up to 1.1 cm across on black Chromite matrix. The little Garnets are beautiful to view under magnification, as they are simply textbook examples of the material. A good reference specimen for any fan of Garnets or Russian minerals. It should be noted that one does not commonly see Calcite associated with Uvarovites from this mine, and it's typically massive, so it's refreshing to see actual crystallized Calcite on this piece.