Spersatite,

[lonewoodminer]

What is Spersatite? We have been offered some spersatite from a mining contact in Africia . It looks a rich orange to red colour, any ideas of price or how common this is?


Cheers Andrew Lane

 

[Matata]

Do you mean spessartite garnet? Here''s a link to Pala''s info http://www.palagems.com/spessartite_buyers_guide.htm

 

[lonewoodminer]

Thanks you may be correct I think the US spell it that way?

Cheers Andrew

 

[Richard M.]

Date: 2/10/2005 5:16:16 AM
Author: lonewoodminer
Thanks you may be correct I think the US spell it that way?


Cheers Andrew

Hi Andrew,

It''s named after the Spessart Forest in Germany, where it was first found, so that spelling is universal. "Spessartine" is a variant spelling. I once ran across an article somewhere that told when the "ite" and "ine" endings were appropriate but have lost track of it and can''t remember the rule.

The same confusion applies to the almandite/almandine and grossular/grossularite garnet species. For some reason pyrope, andradite and uvarovite garnets don''t have spelling variants that I know of. Anyhow, keep us informed on the spessartite decision. Where is it coming from, Nigeria, Tanzania, or???

Cheers, Richard M.

 

[lonewoodminer]

Thanks Richard, spelling certainly isnt one of my strong points. The stone is from Nigeria - photo is attached. Read Palagems article - very interesting - we are presuming from the article that treatment of spessartite is not usually done so this stone should be completely natural - I think the orange colour looks good. Something very different to our usual sapphires.

cheers
Andrew

 

[Michael_E]

Andrew,
Those are very attractive colors. The lighter oranges are generally the more valuable, especially so if they have no inclusions. What sizes are those stones and do they have many inclusions ? I''ve got one really great piece that was already cut when I bought it. It''s 14 carats and a so orange that it looks like a slice of fruit. The only problem is that it has numerous inclusions that give it a sort of unfocused look. I''ll try to post a picture later this week. If you can get that material for a reasonable price, I think that you could sell it all in a very short time.

 

[Richard M.]

Andrew,

One reason I specialize in garnets is that they have a wide range of colors with absolutely no treatments. I like spinel and a few other gems for the same reason. The only exception I know of is demantoid (green andradite) that’s often heated to bring up strong green color from brownish green. The treatment is permanent, just like heated Tanzanite. There are likewise no garnet synthetics as yet.

I wrote a brief on-line article about garnets recently that might provide a bit more information about the garnet group generally. It’s very brief but hits some high points. It’s intended as an introduction to a series of garnet articles that will appear on my website now in process (thanks Michael E. for the software tip)! It’s at Garnet They finally added my images to the article but forgot the captions. Guess you can’t have everything, LOL.

One more point. Michael is correct that the current market seems to prefer the lighter orange spessartite hues. But the redder “aurora rose” color is often priced higher because, with spessartite’s very high brilliance, such stones are truly spectacular. See the attached image.

Richard M.

 

[strmrdr]

All I can say is AWESOME orange is one of my favorite colors and oraggey red even more so.
Id love one of the darker ones :}

 

[Richard M.]

Date: 2/10/2005 7:25

8 PM
Author: strmrdr

Id love one of the darker ones :}

I think that could be arranged...

Richard M.