Hessonite Garnet

Unknown Owner

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To my mind, this small locality has produced a trickle of what have to be rated among the finest examples of Hessonite garnet in the world. Most people do not even know the mine name for sure - I have seen smaller pieces trickling to the market under a variety of locality placements. And, most specimens are partial crystals or clunky matrix pieces with small crystals. This aesthetic, impressive display piece is 3-dimensional and has fat crystals, symmetric as you can wish for, wrapping around. The central crystal is 3.5 cm and is fully terminated on the back of the piece, as well. In fact, the whole backside is complete and showy, just with a few very minor bits of edge wear showing while the front is pristine. It is more transparent in person I believe, because the photos were not overdone or taken with close lighting which makes the crystals appear more gemmy when more strongly backlit. This is a major specimen, suitable for any collection and, I think, a real treasure from a place where this kind of money does not buy the best aquamarines or tourmaline but can land you something like this that just leaps out of the crowd, to my eye. Joe Budd photos