Grossular Garnet

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This small cabinet specimen of two intergrown Grossular garnet crystals is a really lovely gooseberry green colour - fitting perfectly with the name - Grossularia being the botanical name for gooseberry. It is from the find at Arrondissement Diakon in the Kayes Region of Mali in West Africa first discovered in 1994. The Grossular in this example forms as two epitaxially aligned crystals, one 5 cm across and the smaller to 3.5 cm. Each forms a dodecahedron although these are not complete from where they were attached to the original matrix. Internally, these crystals are coloured-zoned with a very dark brown core, the gooseberry to apple green outer layer is 5 to 6 mm wide. The specimen does have several dings on corners and edges but is still a really unusual and highly distinctive Grossular of the top colour for Mali.