Orange News

valeria101 · Jul 28, 2005

I hope I am doing no harm to the forum's policies by posting this. It is not intended to advertize the seller - I barely know the shop, but to show these orange wonders. Prior to this, the largest I knew of were barely 1 carat. Hearing about 10 carats sounded like a joke. But it isn't. The original webpage (LINK) has more - this is just a snap shot that made into records and this post.

The same source also produces the relatively well known Pamir pink spinels. Vivid pink and orange should make the place rather well known, one would think.

Enjoy !

strmrdr · Jul 28, 2005

yummy!
love oranges

MINE!! · Jul 29, 2005

OOOOHHHH COOOOOLLL!!! Yummy yummy!!

maxspinel · Jul 29, 2005

The color looks intense but what are they? Clinohumite, sounds very interesting. The same vendor also offers some green stones called Chromium Mawsitsit which they said is a cousin of Jadelite. Any idea what these are? Looks very nice though.

Richard M. · Jul 29, 2005

Clinohumite is very pretty but has low hardness: about 6 on Mohs scale, which ranks it well below orange spessartite garnet and other orange garnet types like hessonite and malaia (6.5 to 7.5). And of course orange sapphire (9.0) is far harder yet.

The stones posted by Ana are an exceptional size for this rare mineral but appear to be quite included. Still they will find a ready market with collectors.

Maw-sit-sit is an aggregate of six or so separate minerals so like lapis lazuli is therefore a rock, not a mineral. It''s found in northern Myanmar (Burma) and is named for the area where it''s mined. The coloring agent is chromium and fine pieces are very attractive green with black mottling. It''s suitable for cabochons and is faceted only for specialty stones. The image gives an idea of the color variations but top material is more translucent and shows vibrant green.

Richard M.