large garnet collection

[zeolite]

I didn’t want to impose on MakingTheGrades thread, and I’ve never assembled all of my garnets into one picture until now. My gem collection has a little of everything, but the largest grouping is garnets: 61 garnets are pictured here.

The first picture is natural sunlight (shade) so this is actually the worst color balance to show warm yellow, orange and red garnets.

 

[zeolite]

The second picture is mixed lighting (incandescent and natural shade). The orange and red garnets are beginning to show their strong, warm colors, and the color change garnets are beginning to show their color change. The exposure is for the whole group, so the very pale and the very dark show poorly in these pictures.

 

[zeolite]

The front group (left) shows 3 colorless grossular garnets, 3 green grossulars, and 5 tsavorites. The colorless garnets resemble fine white diamonds and are rare beyond belief. It was estimated in Gems & Gemology (about 1979) that only 40 colorless grossulars larger than two carats exist in the world!

The front group (middle) shows 9 yellow to golden grossulars, including a very pale yellow opposed bar cut, and the large square Barion, which was analyzed and pictured in Gems & Gemology.

The front group (right) shows 11 malayas, including one opposed bar AGTA Cutting Edge winner. All of these malayas are not at all typical of Tanzanian malayas, but were selected for their pale tone, brilliance, cutting and lack of brown.

The middle group (extreme left) shows two Mali garnets, that are extremely high in grossular and low in andradite.

The middle group (left) shows 8 pastel pink pyrope and rhodolite garnets.

The middle group (right) shows 6 intensely colored rhodolite garnets, including the octagon cut AGTA Cutting Edge winner.

The middle group (extreme right) shows two Ramona CA spessartites, and one large Nigerian spessartite garnet.

The back group (left) shows two extremely intense and brilliant chrome pyropes. The purplish red one is my avatar.

The back group (right) shows a string of 9 color change (C/C) garnets. Keep in mind the bottom picture is not pure incandescent, it also includes daylight. The right most Bekily Madagascar C/C garnet shifts from blue to magenta, and the second from right round shifts from pastel green to a strong pink-red. A number of the other C/C garnets change from peridot green to orange.

The smallest gem is the Mali green at 0.90 cts, and the largest is the superb 15.90 ct pastel pink pyrope oval. This larger oval and the 9.22 ct malaya heart were cut by Phillip Youngman, a multiple AGTA Cutting Edge winner.

 

[poshpepper]

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cant pick a favorite, but the largest pink really draws my eye!!!

 

[BWise]

OMG, I am going to pass out!!!

I need to print your post with the description, so I can scroll back to the pictures and check each one out.

Please, more pictures, at least one for each sub-group?

 

[Octavia]

Ohmygosh. I yearn to have a collection like yours someday. Gorgeous!!!

 

[T L]

well Mr. Zeolite, yes you can say you have a garnet collection there!!! Pretty impressive.

Can you post closeups on the light green ones?? Pretty please?

 

[Linda W]

I am speechless. What a beautiful...gorgeous collection. I can say that I would sit and stare at those beauties all day....

 

[Pandora II]

You have the collection of my dreams!

I notice you don''t have any demantoid or high andradite Mali''s - any reason, or are they a separate collection?

Can you point me in the direction of anyone/anywhere good for info on pastel garnets - I have one that was a lucky find in SL and was seriously looking at another last year that was even paler.

Only problem was that neither I nor the vendor had any clue on how to price the stone accurately and couldn''t get any real advice as to it''s value. I even went as far as talking to the boffins at the Natural History Museum in London, the staff at Holts etc and no-one could help!

 

[brandy_z28]

This is much like me right now:

[two mosquitoes fly near a bug zapper; one flies towards it, as if in a trance]
"Mosquito #1: Harry, no! Don''t look at the light!
Mosquito #2: [entranced] I-can''t-help-it. It''s-so-beautiful.
[Harry gets zapped, falls]
Mosquito #2: Woo hoo!" ~ A Bug''s Life

Those are all SO PRETTY!

 

[MakingTheGrade]

....Wow....
That is beyond amazing Mr. Zeolite.
I think my favorite is the one at the very top right, the color change garnet that goes blue to purple. That's the prettiest blue garnet I've ever seen!

 

[redfaerythinker]

OMG that is an amazing collection. I''m drooling over here.

 

[FrekeChild]

Um. Yowza.

 

[zeolite]

Date: 4/17/2009 5:03:15 PM
Author: Pandora II
You have the collection of my dreams!

I notice you don't have any demantoid or high andradite Mali's - any reason, or are they a separate collection?

Can you point me in the direction of anyone/anywhere good for info on pastel garnets - I have one that was a lucky find in SL and was seriously looking at another last year that was even paler.

Only problem was that neither I nor the vendor had any clue on how to price the stone accurately and couldn't get any real advice as to it's value. I even went as far as talking to the boffins at the Natural History Museum in London, the staff at Holts etc and no-one could help!

demantoids: no mainly because they are too expensive in the quality and size that I demand. I've seen some fine ones at $5,000 or above. However my top tsavorite is well above that. I also haven't seen any top pastel andradites with good dispersion and fine cutting. They are just too rare.

As for the Mali's: i don't care much for the brown or deep orange ones. I have a fine rough Mali that will be similar in color to the diamond shaped mali in the picture above.

Pastel garnet article:

http://gia.metapress.com/content/c3264156617m11u8/

Try to buy a reprint. If no luck, I can photo copy my issue for you. I have all but about 2 Gems & Gemology for the last 27 years. By far the best way to get pastel garnets is to see rough dealers and buy the crystals. Jewelers don't ask for them and collectors snap up the cuts stones, so you will rarely see any. Prices should be about $200 - $300 per carat wholesale, not very high. Color change garnets are much higher, $500 to $2,000 ct wholesale for barely over 1 ct. Two of my CC were in the $2,000 ct range

 

[cushioncutnut]

OOOWOOOGA! What a collection!!!! We want specs! j/k!!

 

[MakingTheGrade]

You should open up a garnet museum. I''m sure we''d all buy tickets to get in!
Did you say your wife isn''t into gemstones? HOW is that possible with this collection? Boggles my mind.

 

[zeolite]

Date: 4/17/2009 5:12:36 PM
Author: MakingTheGrade
....Wow....
That is beyond amazing Mr. Zeolite.
I think my favorite is the one at the very top right, the color change garnet that goes blue to purple. That''s the prettiest blue garnet I''ve ever seen!

I just took these pictures of my top two CC garnets. The left is with a daylight fluorescent (not full spectrum fluorescent). The right is with G.E. Reveal incandescent bulbs.

I think the color in each picture is quite acccurate because:

The pictures were shot in Canon Raw and color balance and exposure was corrected in the conversion to TIFF. Then the TIFF files were imported in to Photoshop, and the hue, saturation, and brightness were adjusted again, as I viewed the actual gem under each light source right next to my computer monitor.

The one you like has equal strength color and tone in each lighting. The round garnet is very weak pale green in fluorescent, and strong saturated pink-red under incandescent.

 

[innerkitten]

Impressive collection.

 

[Catmom]

Woah, that collection is a garnet lover''s dream!

 

[T L]

And he''s a man so he won''t put them all in rings.

 

[zeolite]

Date: 4/17/2009 4:52:56 PM
Author: tourmaline_lover
well Mr. Zeolite, yes you can say you have a garnet collection there!!! Pretty impressive.

Can you post closeups on the light green ones?? Pretty please?

O.K. round rose brilliant 2.21 cts, then my darkest green gossular, emerald cut with cardinal crown, 1.22 cts

 

[loriken214]

WOW, WOW and more WOW!!!!

I saved your photos in my favorites so I can stare at them all day....

Lori

 

[zeolite]

Date: 4/17/2009 4:52:56 PM
Author: tourmaline_lover
well Mr. Zeolite, yes you can say you have a garnet collection there!!! Pretty impressive.

Can you post closeups on the light green ones?? Pretty please?

Another pale mint garnet type, cushion converted to round 2.67 cts; and my lightest tsavorite, shield cut, 0.86 cts

 

[Harriet]

Will you consider lending your collection to the AMNH? The gem and mineral section needs help.

 

[T L]

Date: 4/17/2009 7:44:15 PM
Author: zeolite

Date: 4/17/2009 4:52:56 PM
Author: tourmaline_lover
well Mr. Zeolite, yes you can say you have a garnet collection there!!! Pretty impressive.

Can you post closeups on the light green ones?? Pretty please?

Another pale mint garnet type, cushion converted to round 2.67 cts; and my lightest tsavorite, shield cut, 0.86 cts

Thank you Mr. Zeolite!! Would you consider those a blue green, or a straight light green?

 

[zeolite]

That last tsavorite shield came out too dark, because I didn''t save the last Photoshop correction. I think this exposure is more accurate. Some people may call this a green grossular, but I consider it a light tsavorite. What do you think?

 

[DiamanteBlu]

Wow! Gorgeous collection.

Garnet is my birthstone. I never got a piece of garnet jewelry because I had not seen a garnet in a color other than that red/brown not-so-nice color.

Thanks to all of you for educating me. I think I need to be on the hunt for a nice garnet for myself! I'll let you all know when I start the search so you can help me.

Thanks!

 

[zeolite]

Well since I am early retired, after some time, I expect nearly the entire collection, not just this garnet subsection, will make its way to a museum I have in mind.

 

[Harriet]

Date: 4/17/2009 8:06:32 PM
Author: zeolite
Well since I am early retired, after some time, I expect nearly the entire collection, not just this garnet subsection, will make its way to a museum I have in mind.

Good on you.
Btw, I''d call your shield a Tsavorite.

 

[zeolite]

Date: 4/17/2009 7:58:02 PM
Author: tourmaline_lover

Date: 4/17/2009 7:44:15 PM
Author: zeolite

Date: 4/17/2009 4:52:56 PM
Author: tourmaline_lover
well Mr. Zeolite, yes you can say you have a garnet collection there!!! Pretty impressive.

Can you post closeups on the light green ones?? Pretty please?

Another pale mint garnet type, cushion converted to round 2.67 cts; and my lightest tsavorite, shield cut, 0.86 cts

Thank you Mr. Zeolite!! Would you consider those a blue green, or a straight light green?

To my eye and monitor, the two pastel rounds are a slightly yellowish green, the emerald cut is also very slightly yellowish-green , and the light tsav is also a pure green.