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mali garnet

lavatea

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Apr 16, 2009
Messages
519
What color "should" a mali garnet be? Pics anyone?

I have a small specimen with precision cutting that is the sparkliest little devil, but its color is yellowish with a hint of green - close to colorless.
 

movie zombie

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Jan 20, 2005
Messages
11,879
mali's can have green, yellow, gold, all flashing color at you. they can be light or dark. it sounds like you have a lighter one. they are extremely hard to photograph. i have a lovely one from gene but i've never posted a picture because i just can't capture it anywhere even close to accurately.

this gives you an idea of the range of mali's:

http://www.johndyergems.com/catalog_pages/gemstone-stone-Mali_Garnet1.html

but none of the pictures really show what my mali does re the green/yellow/gold aspects.
 

lavatea

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Apr 16, 2009
Messages
519
So there's not a trade preferred color? I don't particularly care about that sort of thing usually, just curious.

Here's a picture of mine. The veil/inclusion is not that noticeable.

5.7mm Mali garnet from osirisgems_sparkle vs vendor pic.jpg
 

Pandora II

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Aug 3, 2006
Messages
9,613
That's paler than any I have seen.

Most are a honey yellow with a touch of green and orange. I saw a load at a trade show recently from one of the top dealers in London and his were all the colour of the stone below:

panmali2a.jpg
 

athenaworth

Ideal_Rock
Trade
Joined
Jun 19, 2010
Messages
3,588
I have a mali from Dana that is amazing (IMHO) but I don't know if it's considered great by Mali standards. It does show some green, but in directly sunlight it's bright yellow with all sorts of color flashes.

mali3.JPG

mali7.JPG

malivendor.jpg
 

Pandora II

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Aug 3, 2006
Messages
9,613
That's a lovely Mali!

The one I posted is greener in daylight - that photo was taken in incandescent lighting.

The dose of andradite (demantoid garnet is the best known of the andradites, Mali is an andradite/grossular mix) gives the stones amazing dispersion and they sparkle like crazy.

I've seen some earrings recently that were set in micropave diamond halos and they were incredible. To the extent that I, who never sets any stones, actually took one of my Mali's along to the show to try and find a match with one of this dealer's stones. Sadly nothing was a possible match but I'm hoping to find another or a pair to eventually make these earrings.
 

chrono

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Apr 22, 2004
Messages
38,364
Mali garnets come in a range of hues from yellowish to greenish, but no matter which shade one chooses, the trade always go for something saturated. It should not be a pale or almost colourless gemstone, unless that is what you personally prefer.
 

VapidLapid

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Feb 18, 2010
Messages
4,272
these are vendor pics of my mali garnet. the color shifts markedly in different lights. IT is quite green indoors, while brilliant yellow in sunlight. In all light the dispersion is crazy. It is the first stone I bought after joining pricescope.




and this asscher mali I recently bought from gemfix. again it is sometimes colored as pictured but also in some lights it goes more yellow and in others more green. Also there are times it appears almost chameleonishly colorless, like a chrysoberyl hiding in the moss.

malidawson.png

malidawsonmali.png

mali_400.jpg
 

T L

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Sep 20, 2008
Messages
25,212
One should be warned that some malis have a tendency to shift to a more brownish color.
 

Zzz

Rough_Rock
Trade
Joined
Feb 10, 2010
Messages
85
I bought a mali garnet some time back... the vendor picture showed a light lime-ish green but it looked more like a light ugly olive-ish green when I got it! Perhaps due to the different lighting conditions? I returned it the stone :???: didn't like the colour

ETA: like TL said, it had a brownish-ness :((
 
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