"mandarin garnet help"

[movie zombie]

mandarin is a part of the spessartite ''family''......i believe but could be very very wrong, that there is a chemical structural difference even within the ''spessartite'' designation that results in said color mandarin color/designation. however, mandarin has also become a buzz word to obtain a higher price. and like Mine says: real mandarins come from nambia.

my spessartite is from nigeria, and it is definitely not a mandarin. i have heard a gem stone wholesaler refer to it as ''fanta''. this is, i believe, just a color descriptive but not relative to the stone''s chemical structure.

movie zombie

 

[MJO]

Hi MZ,

The original find of Mandarin Garnet was from Namibia and had no iron in it. The iron gives spessartite a brownish tint in certain lighting therefore the original mandarins have no brown component to their color.

Regards,
Maurice

 

[movie zombie]

yep, knew mandarin was from nambia and that there was a chemical difference....just not which chemical! however, because there is a premium on mandarin, i''ve found stones that were called mandarin when they weren''t. too bad as that causes consumer confusion and unrealistic expectations. but it can line the vendors pocket with more $$$$..... unscrupulous vendors, that is.

movie zombie

 

[MJO]

From what I hear there is another find in Namibia that has Iron so not all Spessartite from Namibia shouldn''t be called Mandarin.

Regards,
Maurice

 

[MJO]

Sorry that is not all orange spessertite from Namibia should be called Mandarin. It was late when I wrote the old one.

Regards,
Maurice

 

[movie zombie]

and it was late when i read it.....so i understood it!

labeling all spess from a region as mandarin will only be done by the unknowning and/or unethical.

movie zombie

 

[conitta]

Ok now what is a malaya garnet? It is in the Spessartite family...right?

 

[MINE!!]

Found some great info on GIA website... Maybe this helps.. origin and compostition seems to be the rule for all spess.:

Malaya garnets from Bekily, Madagascar, are predominantly pink to pinkish orange, with some stones orange to red. Discovered only in the late 1990s, the majority are intermediate members of the pyrope-spessartine series with variable contents of almandine and subordinate grossular. The refractive index, specific gravity, and color of these garnets are related to their iron and manganese contents. Inclusions identified by Raman analysis are rutile needles and platelets, graphite, quartz, apatite, zircon, and sillimanite. Negative crystals were also seen. Important differences in predominant color and chemistry were noted when the Bekily garnets, only the second commercial source of malaya garnet, were compared to malaya garnets from East Africa, which have been available since the late 1970s.