My New Mandarin Spess!

[RockHugger]

My new ebay find. 3.6ct! Picked up for 5$! I bought it fully expecting a hessonite but RI came back as spess. It is a red/orange color, and sparkles like crazy.

 

[RockHugger]

Back view to show the most accurate color.

 

[Arkteia]

A-a-A! Congratulations! Always my favorite color! Great job, RH!!! Way to go!

 

[T L]

RH,
Great inexpensive find!! Can''t beat $5!! I personally wouldn''t call that mandarin orange though, but a reddish orange, and some people prefer that color over mandarin anyways. Mandarin is more of a lighter toned orange like the fruit or the soda (Fanta).

 

[RockHugger]

Date: 3/14/2010 9:05:42 PM
Author: tourmaline_lover
RH,
Great inexpensive find!! Can't beat $5!! I personally wouldn't call that mandarin orange though, but a reddish orange, and some people prefer that color over mandarin anyways. Mandarin is more of a lighter toned orange like the fruit or the soda (Fanta).

Well that what the guy who sold it called it LOL. I like the red/orange color more then just orange anyway. I was looking at it through my scope and it has some interesting inclusions! It has hundreds (if not thousands) of mini needles in it. They are only visable at 120x mag.

Anyone have any info on these inclusions?

 

[Indylady]

Very pretty!

 

[T L]

Date: 3/14/2010 9:19:45 PM
Author: RockHugger

Date: 3/14/2010 9:05:42 PM
Author: tourmaline_lover
RH,
Great inexpensive find!! Can't beat $5!! I personally wouldn't call that mandarin orange though, but a reddish orange, and some people prefer that color over mandarin anyways. Mandarin is more of a lighter toned orange like the fruit or the soda (Fanta).

Well that what the guy who sold it called it LOL. I like the red/orange color more then just orange anyway. I was looking at it through my scope and it has some interesting inclusions! It has hundreds (if not thousands) of mini needles in it. They are only visable at 120x mag.

Anyone have any info on these inclusions?

On ebay, just about every seller refers to any spessartite as mandarin. Still, reddish orange is very pretty. I have a reddish orange spessartite that the vendor called mandarin, and I disagreed with that when I received it. It looked mandarin in the ebay listing, but it wasn't. It's still a very pretty stone though, and I paid more for it than what you paid for that one, so great deal!! Are you planning on setting it?

Maganese produces the orange color of a Mandarin or Fanta orange spessarite, and low to no iron content. Once you add iron, the stone becomes more brownish.

It looks to be Nigerian in color. The Tanzanian stones are more yellowish.

 

[Arcadian]

No idea what the needles are, but its a nice one!

In my line of work, mandarin and fanta orange aren''t the same color.


-A

 

[T L]

Date: 3/14/2010 9:55:52 PM
Author: Arcadian
No idea what the needles are, but its a nice one!

In my line of work, mandarin and fanta orange aren't the same color.


-A

Well, to be technical, "Mandarin" really is a marketing name for the maganese bearing vivid orange colored spessartites that were first mined in Namibia, so 99.999% of the spessartites that are called "Mandarin" on ebay, are not since they are mostly mined in Tanzania and Nigeria. The Namibian deposit dried out a long time ago. "Fanta" is a marketing name too, but you're right, when I think of mandarin, I think of a lighter toned orange, and when I think of Fanta, I think of a neon, vivid orange, like the soda. Basically, they're both used to describe a visually pure orange, or slightly yellowish orange maganese bearing stone, with little to no brown or red.

 

[ma re]

A very nice, inexpensive find! I''d call it burnt orange or something like that.

 

[oddoneout]

Great find.

 

[chrono]

Wow, $5!

 

[gingersnap]

Wow, that''s so pretty! I love that color

 

[Arkteia]

Mmm...Rockhugger? Are you now going to send it to GIA for certification?

 

[marcy]

Very pretty.

 

[RockHugger]

Date: 3/15/2010 10:09:00 PM
Author: crasru
Mmm...Rockhugger? Are you now going to send it to GIA for certification?

LOL no way! This bad boy would cost 300$ to certify.

 

[Arkteia]

It was a joke!!!

 

[Barrett]

that is a good find..can''t beat $5..heck i will just pass on the value meal at McDonalds and get me a spess..love that coilor

 

[PumpkinPie]

wonderful colour!

 

[kayla.tastikk]

Date: 3/16/2010 11:15:07 PM
Author: amethystguy
that is a good find..can''t beat $5..heck i will just pass on the value meal at McDonalds and get me a spess..love that coilor