Spessartine (pocket crystal)

Unknown Owner

Help improve this recordNo owner is registered for this specimen yet. If it's yours or you know more about it, you can add the owner, provenance, publications and other details.

Unusually, sharp, gemmy and lustrous, deep cherry-red, 2 cm spessartine garnet crystal is perfectly perched atop a coarse, granular massive galena-quartz-spessartine matrix on this classic and showy specimen from Broken Hill, Australia. Direct lighting of the garnet crystal sets the interior aglow with a wine-red color. Crystal faces are incredibly lustrous and consist of a combination of the dodecahedron and trisoctahedron. There are two trivial imperfections on the crystal and it is grown into the matrix on the bottom. Ex. Dr. Francesco Bedogne collection. Note this was a pocket-growth crystal that was never covered, as most were from here, in galena or calcite that had to be physically removed. That is the reason it has the sharp form and luster! These are 1 in 1000 for the old Broken Hill finds, and this is a particularly aesthetic example.