Hessonite Garnet

[pyramid]

I saw Hessonite garnet in a shop and quite liked the colour but I have not seen it mentioned on here. What do you garnet experts think of Hessonite?

 

[strmrdr]

some of my favorite garnets are hessonites.
Its kewl stuff.

 

[innerkitten]

I'm glad you started this topic. I really like some of the hessonite garnets I've seen. It's not nearly as popular as spessartite yet it seems to be harder to find. Hmm? I guess there's more of a demand for spessartite

 

[Colored Gemstone Nut]

Date: 10/7/2006 12:24:40 PM
Author: innerkitten
I''m glad you started this topic. I really like some of the hessonite garnets I''ve seen. It''s not nearly as popular as spessartite yet it seems to be harder to find. Hmm? I guess there''s more of a demand for spessartite

Hi Pyramid and Innerkitten:

Hessonite Garnets are beautiful, but what separates them from the market demand and popularity of Spess. Is the rich, pumpkin saturated orange achieved in spessarite. The primary color is orange with reds secondary and some brown overtones in spess.

Hessonite garnets tend to be available in light to dark yellow to reddish orange. Hessonite often have the modifier brown

which seems to be more evident in this gem which is not as prized as Spess, because they cannot achieve the pure “saturated orange” which Spess. Are prized for.

Never the less, I think Hessonite garnets are great in their own right and I prefer the rich cinnamon colors. In a larger clean gem with minimal brown overtones, they are gorgeous..

 

[Richard M.]

Hi All,

Hessonite is a sub-variety of grossular garnet. Grossulars have the widest color range of all garnet species, from the saturate greens of Tsavorite through cool mint green colors, yellows, oranges and reds. Even near-colorless grossulars are known. Hessonite is the name traditionally applied to the yellow, orange or brown colors.

The bright brownish-orange hessonites from Sri Lanka have been aptly named "Cinnamon Stone"since ancient times. In my opinion the finest hessonites currently available are exceptional large reds and wonderful peach colors, which are often quite clean. I saw some really fine peach hessonites on a recent buying trip to Idar-Oberstein, Germany, and may stock a few if I can convince the dealer they''re not quite so "precious" as he tends to believe, based on his asking prices.

No other garnet can "out-orange" spessartite. Its bright color combined with high refractive index (1.79 to 1.81) and scarcity in fine quality put it into a special category.

Hessonite is not nearly as bright (R.I. 1.73-1.76) and its orange hues almost always contain some brown due to the presence of iron; nearly pure orange iron-free spessartites can be found. Hessonite usually lacks the clarity of better quality spessartites. One of the clues to identifying it is the presence of characteric "treacle" or "Scotch & water" inclusions: wisps through the stone that look like two liquids haven''t quite mixed together.

Hessonites can be very beautiful but should usually sell for lower prices than gem-grade spessartite. Exceptional hessonites can often demand high prices, though.

Richard M.

 

[pyramid]

Thanks everyone.