Spessartine

$800.00

$40.00 shipping
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Most collectors know of Wushan Spessartine mine in Fujian Province, China for, as the name suggests, Spessartine. It has certainly produced some of the world's finest display specimens of the manganese garnet, but it has also furnished collections with some excellent Helvine crystals and in aesthetic arrangements too. As a beryllium manganese silicate, Helvine is pretty rare worldwide and although some colossal crystals (to 1 5 cm on edge) have been reported from Argentina these Chinese Helvines are much more displayable. Large miniature in size, this really well-balanced specimen from the superb systematic collection assembled by the brothers Martin and Michael Günther (1951-2007 & 1956-2021) looks fantastic on display, with the intense glossy brown Helvine crystals reaching 1.2 cm across and with small rounded Spessartine crystals adding flashes of orange. The modified (truncated) tetrahedral Helvine crystal form is fascinating to look at too, and both crystals are in perfect shape. A really classy Helvine.